Struggling automaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen announced it will slash 8,000 jobs in France and close a major auto manufacturing plant in Paris on Thursday. 

Employees at the plant in Aulnay-sous-bois staged a protest in front of the production site, which is one's France's biggest car factories and bastion of auto making and autoworker's unions.

"Protesters will be looking to enlarge their circle to include employees elsewhere whose jobs are threatened and join a common combat," Jean-Pierre Mercier, a union representative at the plant told BFM TV.

The decision of shutting down the auto plant was made Thursday after a series of meetings with its worker representatives in PSA Peugeot-Citroen.

According to the official announcement, the struggling automaker faces a first-half loss of $854.28 million in 2012, and is trying with all its attempts to save $122.04 billion.

Peugeot is also competing against a stagnant car market in Europe. The restructuring plan also includes slashing of 1,400 jobs at the company's Rennes manufacturing plant and 3,600 jobs in other French sites.

Currently, the automaker employs 100,000 workers in France and 209,000 people worldwide. The entire car industry in France is hit by the economic crisis and was given a bailout under then-President Nicholas Sarkozy.

Peugeot hopes a new alliance with General Motors corporation and will allow it to return to its long-term profitability. 

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