FRANCE: Petrol stations start to run dry in Paris as oil refinery strikes bite deeper

Record ID: 339846

  • Title: FRANCE: Petrol stations start to run dry in Paris as oil refinery strikes bite deeper
  • Date: 20th October 2010
  • Summary: JOURNALIST LOOKING AT MAP
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Industry,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA755JXDEFZ1OUC67PFL5CZ5IXX
  • Story Text: More than 2,500 petrol stations were running dry across France, French news channels reported on Tuesday (October 19) as workers protesting against pension reforms picketed refineries and blocked fuel depots.
    Cars lined up for several hours at those stations that were open to stock up on fuel after having made the rounds of other petrol pumps.
    "I've been going round petrol stations since six this morning. I've come from Val d'Oise, so the time to arrive here, it's two and a half hours. It's two and a half hours that we've been looking for fuel," one motorist said.
    Meanwhile workers continued strikes at all of France's 12 oil refineries to protest against president Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.
    Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on French Radio the government needed to be firm and insisted the reforms were essential.
    "There are rights in our country: the right to strike and the right to protest. There isn't a right to riot, to provoke, or to have violent actions," Alliot-Marie said.
    Opposition Parti Socialiste spokesperson Benoit Hamon said the blocked petrol supplies were a consequence of the government's confrontation with the unions.
    "Today this is one form of a consequence of a test of force, desired by the government and I will even go a little further and say that I think the one whose interest it is most in, that this toughens up and becomes more radical and that this movement of support of opinion is cut off, is the government. I think this is a calculation, a political calculation by Francois Fillon and Nicolas Sarkozy," said Hamon.
    As fuel depots dry up, France will become increasingly dependent on strategic reserves which need to be accessed and moved by truck across the country. President Nicolas Sarkozy hopes the Senate will approve his bill by Friday (October 22) after which it just needs a last vote by a joint parliamentary committee.
    Striking public sector workers later on Tuesday planned to disrupt travel with protesters hitting the streets en masse as trade unions continued their protests.
    Airport staff, bus and train drivers, teachers, postal workers and armoured truck drivers who stock cash machines will join refinery workers and others in a day of nation-wide strikes.
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