France pension protests: Fuel deliveries blocked by strikers
Fuel deliveries have been blocked from all French refineries, according to union officials, as protesters aim to bring France to a standstill over plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 64, BBC reports.
"The strike has begun everywhere," said Eric Sellini of the CGT union. Tuesday marked the sixth day of strikes and protests since mid-January, with unions saying it would be the biggest yet. Most train and metro services have been cancelled, and many schools closed. At least 260 demonstrations are expected across France on Tuesday, with police estimates of between 1.1 million and 1.4 million taking part. With the government showing no sign of backing down on its pension plan, one union leader, Emmanuel Lépine, said last week that the aim of blocking fuel deliveries was to "bring the French economy to its knees". There are eight refineries in mainland France and the hard-line CGT union said strikers had blocked the exits to all of them, including those run by TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil. However, it was not clear how long the blockades would last. In the days ahead, there will be calls to extend the strikes to include power generation too. So far, for all the noise and sporadic disruption, the campaign has caused little damage to the economy, and the bill is proceeding through parliament. Unions and the left know time is running out before the reform becomes a reality - which is all the more reason for them to up the pressure now.
