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French fuel shortages improve as hints of compromise emerge
Speaking in Japan after a summit with other world leaders, Hollande said France’s economy was starting to pick up and should not be derailed by opponents of a reform created to make hiring and firing easier to boost employment.
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“You can not blockade a country, you can not attack the economic interests of France in this way”, a defiant Valls told parliament, after earlier branding the hardline CGT union that is driving the protests “irresponsible”.
President Francois Hollande said he would not allow protesters to strangle the French economy.
“I will stand firm because I think it is a good reform”, he said from the G7 summit in Japan on Friday.
Authorities stepped up their offensive early in the morning, when riot police swept away a blockade of burning tyres at an oil depot near a Total refinery in Donges, western France.
“Blockades have been removed at all the depots, except for the depot at Gargenville (in the Paris area), which is on strike”, a transport ministry spokesman said.
Riot police officers take cover as they clash with protestors during a demonstration held as part of nationwide labor actions in Paris.
Six of France’s eight oil refineries were also still either shut down or operating at reduced capacity as a result of ongoing union action.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months for protests marred by violence on the fringes in which hundreds of police have been hurt and more than 1,300 people arrested.
– May 10: The government uses a controversial constitutional provision to push the bill through without a vote, infuriating left-wing opponents of the reforms.
“We are suffering the collateral damage”, Carine Zarkout, an engineering student, added.
The French government said around 30% of its 12,200 fuel stations were “in trouble”, half of them completely dry.
British travellers have been advised to fill up with petrol or diesel in the United Kingdom before holidaying on the continent across the bank holiday weekend after strike action in France led to fuel shortages.
The stoppages are part of a wave of strikes and mass demonstrations that have seriously disrupted France, just as it gears up to host the Euro 2016 football championships in two weeks’ time. “But the Dated market is doing a lot better over the last two days and the unwanted Forties has mostly cleared, largely due to resurgent demand in the east”, Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects told ICIS on Thursday. “There is no shortage at this stage”, the airline said.
Strikes also continued at nuclear power stations – which provide three-quarters of the country’s electricity – but have so far failed to affect supply, authorities said.
The Medef employers’ federation condemned the “thugs’ methods” used by unions and the effects the protests were having on France’s economic recovery.
Jean Durand, a member of the powerful CGT union, which is leading the call for walkouts across the country, said: ‘The nation is angry, and has every right to express itself. we’ll continue our protests until the government backs down’. Unions have called for rolling strikes on the Paris Metro to start on the day of the opening match on 10 June.
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Prime Minister Manuel Valls, fighting for his political survival, has insisted the legislation will not be withdrawn, but says it might still be possible to make “changes” or “improvements”.