Police forcibly remove protesters from the train tracks at one of Paris' busiest stations. 

Thousands of nurses staged a sit-in protest on the tracks, bringing rail traffic to a halt. 

The nurses are specialized anesthetists, demanding more recognition of their work.  

Their sit-in forced officials to remove them after paralyzing train traffic between Paris and western France.

But they say their struggle is worth the delay.

[Nurse Protester]:
"We're despised. This is what we've come to because the government made us promises and didn't want to... they don't listen to us. This is what they've driven us to. We're just nurses. All we want is for our five years of studies to be recognized, for everything we do to be recognized. We spend every day taking care of the sick and this is what we get."

The nurses underwent an extra two years of training on top of the initial three to become anesthetists.

But they say their salaries don't reflect the extra studies.

Their frustration boiled over several weeks ago, starting the movement, when a new protocol failed to recognize their specialization.

To add insult to injury in their eyes the protocol also allowed non-specialized nurses to work in anesthetics.