French police break union fuel blockade

French police break union fuel blockade

2010-10-23 03:49:07 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- French riot police forces on Friday broke up a blockade on a key fuel depot near Paris, after the state issued an emergency decree ordering strikers there back to work.

CRS riot police arrived on early Friday morning at an oil refinery at Grandpuits near Paris. They were ordered to break one of the many blockades that have caused huge disruption to petrol deliveries across the country.

The government order was issued to force strikers who had been camping out outside the depot for days, to allow the refinery to restart deliveries of the needed fuel. The blockades have also caused electricity shortages.

The strikers did not responded peacefully and tried to prevent police forces from breaking up the picket. The riot police officers used tear gas to repel approximately 200 demonstrators at the Grandpuits refinery.

On Thursday, at the end of another day of clashes between students and police forces in various cities across France, unions called for workers to join two new days of nationwide demonstrations next week.

In the past week, around 1,400 people have been arrested in relation to disrupting riots and protests. The massive strike began last week, just after French lawmakers passed a key measure of the pension reform bill, which will raise the retirement age for workers with full pension from 65 to 67.

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