Fuel blockades hit France

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PARIS -- French drivers faced a fuel crisis as a nationwide campaign of blockades against high fuel prices began early on Monday, with truckers, farmers and ambulance drivers joining the protest.

In the second wave of strikes over high diesel prices to hit the country within days, the drivers began a series of blockades of major fuel storage facilities and petrol depots to protest against rising diesel prices.

Protesters planned to deploy 2,000 lorries to block more than 70 refineries and depots from Le Havre, Cherbourg, and Granville on the northwestern coast to Donges in Brittany and Bassens and Ombes in south-west France.

The action follows last week's blockade of French ports along the English Channel that wreaked traffic chaos with cross-Channel hauliers and holidaymakers.

The latest protest started soon after midnight on Monday in the south-east of the country, at two petrol depots in the Bouches-du-Rhone region, and at a fuel storage facility in Toulouse in the south-west.

The protest actions then rapidly spread across the country.

French drivers, worried about fuel supplies, formed long lines at petrol stations on Sunday in anticipation of a drawn-out protest.

In the east of France, about 50 farmers set up a blockade in front of the main petrol dump in the Moselle region.

In Brittany, also in the northwest, protestors blocked two depots in Brest, as well as others in the region, including at the port of Saint Malo.

Other truckers were heading for the Total refinery in Le Havre, which was hit by a major blaze late on Sunday, union officials added.

The fire was unrelated to the strike action but could further disrupt fuel supplies. No one was injured.

Blockades also sprung up in the central Auvergne and Correze regions, while some 30 trucks blocked the Reithstett refinery in the east of the country near Strasbourg.

"We don't like doing this because it makes us unpopular, but frankly we've no choice," Philippe, the owner of a small truck firm who was blockading a refinery in the northern town of Rouen, told France Info radio. "We're not going to give in."

Other targets were in the eastern Alsace region, along the Rhone River, the Nice airport on the Mediterranean and along the Franco-Spanish border in the Pyrenees. Paris was, as yet, not directly affected.

The French transport ministry said it was in intense discussions with three truck drivers' associations, and added it would make unspecified proposals to the truckers on Monday.

But Jean-Paul Deneuville, head of one of the drivers' associations, the FNTR, denied on French television there had been any contact on the weekend with the ministry.

The FNTR has said its blockade would be lifted only "when the authorities come to their senses and recognise the serious plight of the road haulage sector because of the continued hike in diesel."

"Fuel represents approximately 25 percent of hauliers' operating costs, so how can we stand still when diesel has risen in price by 40 percent in the past 12 months and by 50 percent in the past 18 months?" an FNTR spokesman said on Friday.

Speaking at a Socialist party conference in the western port of La Rochelle, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said: "The government is ready to enact specific measures for those sectors in the most difficulty" because of high fuel prices.

A spokesperson for French farmers said on Sunday no one from the agriculture ministry had contacted them, and they would join the truckers in solidarity.

French shipping agents are demanding that the government pay compensation of at least 70 centimes (10 cents) per litre of diesel fuel. They argue that small and medium-sized firms have been driven to the edge of ruin by the increasing prices.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Britain tackles France over port blockades
September 2, 2000
French ferry blockade lifted
August 31, 2000
Fuel blockades planned across France
September 3, 2000

French Government
Oil Price Information Service
European Union

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