New French protests over fuel prices

French farmers protesting against fuel price rises dumped apples on a bridge in Noves, near Avignon

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PARIS (Reuters) -- French farmers and taxi drivers blocked roads on Friday in protests at high fuel prices, a day after fishermen ended a three-day blockade of ports having won concessions from the government.

Road hauliers threatened their own action for Monday, when they said they would blockade oil depots and refineries in the continuing standoff with the government.

In the eastern town of Strasbourg, where he was met by protesting farmers, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin promised to look at ways to ease the impact of soaring fuel costs.

"We have resolved the conflict with the fishermen. Now we will try ... to provide answers to the industries affected like farmers and road hauliers," he said.

Citing runaway crude oil prices as the source of the problem, he said the government would approach the OPEC oil producers group to caution them to get prices under control.

Jospin's left-wing government agreed on Thursday to compensate fishermen for a 75 percent increase in the cost of the untaxed fuel that powers their boats.

Finance Minister Laurent Fabius also announced cuts in fuel oil taxes as of September 21 as part of a package of tax reductions for French households and businesses.

Maritime traffic has returned to normal after the fishermen lifted their last blockades overnight on the Mediterranean coast.

Trucks wait in Dover, southern England, to board ferries to cross the Channel

The blockades in Channel ports, including a brief siege of the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, had stranded thousands of tourists and caused anger in Britain.

The British government, which plans to raise the issue at a meeting of the European Union, has said it will seek compensation for the delays caused to private and commercial travellers.

The fishermen's victory appeared to have given hope to other workers hit by fuel cost rises who have said Fabius's tax cuts were insufficient to make up for the impact of the increases on their earnings.

Farmers driving some 100 tractors blocked the road into an oil refinery at Reichstett near Strasbourg and restricted traffic around several other provincial towns.

Taxi drivers mounted their own protests in the provinces and said they would demonstrate again next Thursday in Paris, Lyon and Marseille -- France's three biggest cities.

"With diesel at six francs (85 cents) a litre, we just can't make ends meet," said Yves Riso, a spokesman for taxi drivers in the Mediterranean resort city of Nice.

About 500 taxis there travelled in a slow convoy from the airport into the resort and down its main seafront road, the famous Promenade des Anglais.

Oil prices were at near-decade highs on Friday, with benchmark Brent crude for October at $31.57 a barrel, well above a $30 flashpoint cited by the United States as unacceptably expensive.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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August 31, 2000
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