Protesters turn violent ahead of Senate vote
Source: Agencies |
October 22, 2010, Friday
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PROTESTERS blockaded Marseille's airport, Lady Gaga canceled concerts in Paris and rioting youths attacked police in Lyon yesterday ahead of a tense Senate vote on raising the retirement age to 62.
A quarter of the nation's gas stations were out of fuel despite French President Nicolas Sarkozy's orders to force open depots barricaded by striking workers.
Gasoline shortages and violence on the margins of student protests have heightened the standoff between the government and labor unions who see retirement at 60 as a hard-earned right.
New violence broke out in Lyon, as police chased rampaging youths who overturned a car and hurled bottles. Riot officers tried to subdue the violence with tear gas. A police helicopter circled overhead.
"It is not troublemakers who will have the last word in a democracy," Sarkozy told local officials in central France, promising to find and punish rioters. He accused strikers of "taking the economy, businesses, daily life hostage."
While the Senate was nearing the end of a protracted debate on a reform Sarkozy calls crucial to his presidency, students barricaded high schools and took to the streets nationwide yesterday afternoon. Hundreds filled the port of Marseille - where dozens of ships waited in the Mediterranean after days of strikes have blocked their access to a key oil terminal.
The Senate vote on the sweeping pension reform was scheduled for late yesterday, but the debate could drag on for another day or two. Opposition Socialists proposed more than 1,000 amendments to the pension reform bill approved by the lower house of parliament last month, and the Senators must debate and vote on each one.
The French government - like many heavily indebted governments around Europe - says raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and overhauling the money-losing pension system is vital to ensuring that future generations receive any pensions at all.
French unions say the working class is unfairly punished by the pension reform and that the government should find money for the pension system elsewhere. They fear this reform will herald the end of an entire network of welfare benefits that make France an enviable place to work and live.
"We cannot stop now," Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the Workers' Force union, said yesterday of the protests.
Unions have held several rounds of one-day strikes in recent months, but scattered actions have turned increasingly radical as the bill heads for near-certain approval in the Senate. Leading labor unions met yesterday to decide what to do next.
Student protests have forced the government to its knees in the past, and in recent days some have degenerated into violence .
Shopping streets were empty in central Lyon. The Bistrot de Lyon didn't put tables outside as usual out of fear of clashes.
"We've seen a reduction of 30-35 percent of business overall,'' said restaurant manager Philippe Husser.
A quarter of the nation's gas stations were out of fuel despite French President Nicolas Sarkozy's orders to force open depots barricaded by striking workers.
Gasoline shortages and violence on the margins of student protests have heightened the standoff between the government and labor unions who see retirement at 60 as a hard-earned right.
New violence broke out in Lyon, as police chased rampaging youths who overturned a car and hurled bottles. Riot officers tried to subdue the violence with tear gas. A police helicopter circled overhead.
"It is not troublemakers who will have the last word in a democracy," Sarkozy told local officials in central France, promising to find and punish rioters. He accused strikers of "taking the economy, businesses, daily life hostage."
While the Senate was nearing the end of a protracted debate on a reform Sarkozy calls crucial to his presidency, students barricaded high schools and took to the streets nationwide yesterday afternoon. Hundreds filled the port of Marseille - where dozens of ships waited in the Mediterranean after days of strikes have blocked their access to a key oil terminal.
The Senate vote on the sweeping pension reform was scheduled for late yesterday, but the debate could drag on for another day or two. Opposition Socialists proposed more than 1,000 amendments to the pension reform bill approved by the lower house of parliament last month, and the Senators must debate and vote on each one.
The French government - like many heavily indebted governments around Europe - says raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and overhauling the money-losing pension system is vital to ensuring that future generations receive any pensions at all.
French unions say the working class is unfairly punished by the pension reform and that the government should find money for the pension system elsewhere. They fear this reform will herald the end of an entire network of welfare benefits that make France an enviable place to work and live.
"We cannot stop now," Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the Workers' Force union, said yesterday of the protests.
Unions have held several rounds of one-day strikes in recent months, but scattered actions have turned increasingly radical as the bill heads for near-certain approval in the Senate. Leading labor unions met yesterday to decide what to do next.
Student protests have forced the government to its knees in the past, and in recent days some have degenerated into violence .
Shopping streets were empty in central Lyon. The Bistrot de Lyon didn't put tables outside as usual out of fear of clashes.
"We've seen a reduction of 30-35 percent of business overall,'' said restaurant manager Philippe Husser.
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