Journalists at French business newspaper Les Echos went on strike Tuesday night to show support for their editor, who has resigned.

Erik Izraelewicz said his resignation is due to interference from the paper's new owners, luxury goods group LVMH, which bought Les Echos late last year. Izraelewicz will become editor of rival newspaper La Tribune.

The Society of Journalists and Les Echos' editorial union said in a statement that they regret Izraelewicz's departure, the Guardian reported Wednesday. Pearson sold Les Echos to LVMH, owned by Bernard Arnault, last year for €240 million.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the Les Echos staff association said LVMH has failed to abide by its guarantees of editorial independence, made when it bought Les Echos. The sale last year was fiercely opposed by Les Echos staff and unions, who argued Arnault's guarantees of editorial independence were inadequate, and that his ownership would mean large conflicts of interest, as the financial paper reports on much of his commercial and industrial activities.

“We think that LVMH and the new management of Les Echos did not allow Erik Izraelewicz to carry out his job as editor-in-chief with total independence,” Antoine Boudet, the representative from the Journalists' Union, said in a statement, according to the Guardian.

The statement also said staff has voted to not publish Wednesday's paper, and to stop producing the Les Echos Web site.