FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy sent in riot police yesterday to reopen fuel depots blocked by strikes, but the dispute over pension reform continued to escalate as the main pipeline to Paris airports was cut.
Mr Sarkozy took the decision to send in the police early yesterday morning in order to prevent fuel shortages amid reports of panic buying after all France’s 12 refineries shut down or reduced operations because of the strikes.
Several petrol stations reportedly had to shut yesterday because their stocks had run out.
While the transport strikes have ebbed since Tuesday, the petrol workers have been joined at the forefront of this week’s dispute by secondary school students, who joined the pensions campaign for the first time this week and whose strong turnout has been greeted with surprise.
Students yesterday protested outside the prime minister’s office in Paris and blockaded more than 300 schools, or 7 per cent of the total, the interior ministry said.
Of most immediate concern to the government, however, was the shutting down of a fuel pipeline supplying Paris and its airports.
Operating company Trapil confirmed that a pipeline that brings car, jet and domestic fuel to part of the Paris region had stopped operating because of strikes at northern refineries, but airport operator ADP said it had several days’ worth of fuel reserves.
The main Paris air hub, Charles de Gaulle, could run out of fuel as early as next week, while Orly airport has stocks for 17 days.
The unblocking of a number of depots by police allowed some lorry deliveries to resume, but workers responded to the authorities’ action by forcing the closure of five more facilities.
Transport minister Dominique Bussereau has tried to reassure the public that petrol pumps will not run dry. He has given oil companies permission to tap into their own emergency stocks, but has so far resisted calls to open the national strategic fuel reserve.
On another day of blockades by school students, meanwhile, the Paris prefect banned the use of “flash-ball” guns by police after a pupil in Montreuil, just outside the city, was injured by a rubber bullet during a clash with officers. The victim was due to undergo surgery last night.
After nationwide street protests on Tuesday attracted the largest crowds of the pensions campaign so far, unions hope to keep up their momentum with another series of rallies tomorrow and next Tuesday. “There have never since 1995 been so many protesters . . . from both the public and private sectors, and now from all generations,” the CGT union leader Bernard Thibault said on French television – a reference to the three-week transport strike that paralysed France and forced then president Jacques Chirac to back down over pensions reform.
Mr Sarkozy has insisted he will refuse to meet unions’ demands, and hopes the pensions Bill will be approved by the upper house by the end of the month.