Fishermen end protests as they win generous concessions

The meeting at the French ministry of agriculture started inauspiciously, with angry fishermen lighting firecrackers in the street outside and an argument over how many union leaders could enter Minister Jean Glavany's office.

Scarcely two hours later it ended in radiant smiles as the fishermen who had held French ports - and thousands of passengers - hostage for three days applauded Mr Glavany.

The leaders telephoned comrades in Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Cherbourg, Saint Malo and Marseilles with the words, "We've won." One by one, the blockades were lifted.

The agreement was a relief to Irish and British citizens stranded by the three-day blockade. Earlier yesterday fist fights had broken out at Calais and Cherbourg between the protesting fishermen and angry passengers. A Briton was hospitalised after he was beaten.

At Le Havre, 700 passengers were forced to spend Wednesday night on a ferry. Trucks were backed up over 6 km at the Eurotunnel rail shuttle, which was closed by the fishermen yesterday morning.

The trawlers anchored in rows across harbours departed, and fishermen drove away the vans they had used to block the Calais-Paris, Rennes-Brest and Lorient-Quimper highways.

By late yesterday cross-channel ferries belonging to the French-owned Brittany Ferries and the British P&O Stena line had resumed service. Irish Ferries said it would restart crossings between Cherbourg, Ireland and Britain this morning.

The ferry companies had maintained some traffic by diverting passengers and vehicles to Roscoff in Brittany or Zeebrugge in Belgium.

The fishermen demanded that the price of diesel fuel be reduced from 2.20 francs per litre to between 1.30 francs and 1.50 francs. Because they already purchased their diesel at cost, the French government could not lower the price without violating EU regulations.

Mr Glavany chose instead to reduce social security payments. He had offered them a 50 per cent reduction in social charges last week. Yesterday they obtained a 100 per cent exoneration from social charges and the lifting of all port fees. Union leaders said this was the equivalent of the price reduction they had sought.

The final plan, due on September 4th, is expected to include debt relief for some companies and proposals to help the fishing industry throughout the EU. There are 16,600 fishermen in France, responsible for 4.8 billion francs in annual turnover.

The government hopes the tax plan announced by finance minister Laurent Fabius yesterday will quiet the farmers and taxi-drivers who threatened to join the fishermen's movement.

The government will spend 3.5 billion francs to reduce the price of domestic fuel oil, used by farmers for tractors and other equipment.