French tobacco vendors refused to sell cigarettes on Monday in an unprecedented nationwide protest over a 20 percent tax hike they fear will put hundreds of them out of business.

Several tobacco shops that stayed shut in the Latin Quarter of Paris stuck up posters accusing a government that is cutting income tax of hypocrisy.

"They're taking from our pockets taxes they claim to be cutting elsewhere," said the posters. "Your tobacco vendor is on strike. 'No' to excessive and systematic tax increases."

Strike response figures were unavailable early on Monday but the Confederation of Tobacco Outlets of France was counting on a halt in sales by around three-quarters of some 34,000 outlets that sell tobacco under a state-controlled distribution system.

In Paris, participation in the strike looked low in the morning, with barely half the outlets closing or covering up their cigarette displays.

Defending the latest in a string of hefty tax rises that are being used to plug a huge deficit in public healthcare finances, Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei went on radio to condemn smoking as a killer habit.

"It's time to act. Nine in 10 smokers begin before 18 and half of them will die of cancer," he said on RTL radio.

The tax rise of 18-20 percent took the price of a top brand packet of 20 cigarettes to around 4.60 euros from 3.90. Further rises in January are expected to push the price to five euros, compared to a price nearer three euros just 12 months ago.

The latest price hike puts France up near the top of the league table for cigarette prices in Western Europe, but still behind some countries like Norway and Britain.

Mattei said it was possible the January rise could be postponed slightly.

Tobacco vendors, often cafes which devote a corner of their premises to sales of cigarettes, fear that rising prices will prompt more smokers to buy on the black market or across the border in Italy, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg.

An earlier rise in taxes in January contributed to an eight percent fall in cigarette sales since. The government has pledged 120 million euros of aid to the sector, but tobacconists say that is not enough.

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