Global General

Clashes, protests in French tensions over pensions

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-22 13:26

 

A hooded youth runs away from tear gas fired by French police during a demonstration in Lyon, Oct 21, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

Shopping streets stood nearly empty Thursday in central Lyon. The Bistrot de Lyon didn't put tables outside as usual, out of fear of clashes.

"We've seen a reduction of 30-35 percent of business overall, for the last few days with the rioting in town. Lunchtime, nothing is going on, we've no one. It's more than calm," said restaurant manager Philippe Husser.

In Nanterre, the scene of running street battles between masked and hooded youth and riot police in recent days, the scene Thursday morning was calm, said Mehdi Najar, one of a few dozen red-jacketed mediators organized by city hall to help keep the peace.

In Marseille, hundreds of workers blocked access to the main airport for about three hours early Thursday. Passengers tugged suitcases along blocked roads as they hiked to the terminal, before police moved in to disperse protesters.

Wildcat protests blocked train lines around Paris. Protesters in cars and trucks blocked several highways around the country, from near Calais in the north to the Pyrenees in the south, according to the national road traffic center.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux lashed out at "certain people who take parts of our territory for battlefields." Speaking on Europe-1 radio Thursday, Hortefeux said 1,901 people have been detained since early last week.

Hortefeux insisted that the country has several weeks of gasoline reserves and that "the trend is toward improvement" in supplies. Still, he said a quarter of France's gas stations lack fuel.

Kamal Guerfa works - or at least shows up for work - at a gas station in Lyon. But on Thursday, there was nothing to pump.

"We are here, ready to work, there's no problem with that. The problem is that people come to get gas and there is none," he said.

Laurette Meyer's heart sank when she saw the empty pumps.

"It is penalizing. We work in the building construction business. We have employees who drive all day long in order to build the houses for our customers and it's starting to be very difficult," she said.

Families around the country are on edge over the gasoline shortages because school vacations start Friday.

Authorities, however, are hoping the vacations cool off student tempers.

On Thursday morning, students shut down the Turgot High School near the Place de la Republique in eastern Paris after a student union vote. Teens sat in the middle of the street, barring traffic. Some sang songs and chanted slogans under eye of the police.

The US Embassy in Paris warned Americans "to avoid demonstrations currently taking place in France." The warning said peaceful demonstrations can escalate into violence, and urged visitors to check with their airlines in case of airport disruptions, and check with rental car agencies about the availability of gasoline.

Workers for Airbus and Hewlett Packard marched through the streets of the southern city of Toulouse, where the city university is closed because of student protests. Ten other universities were also blocked Thursday.

In Strasburg in the east, protesters blocked a sluice on the Rhine.

The strikes are hitting the entertainment industry, too. Lady Gaga's website says the singer postponed two Paris concerts scheduled for Friday and Saturday "as there is no certainty the trucks can make it" to the show.

A striking railway worker throws plastic boxes as railway tracks burnt during a demonstration at the old port of Marseille, Oct 21, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]