Police break up refinery blockade

WORKERS at the vital Grandpuits oil refinery outside Paris have been ordered back to work by the prefect “in the interests of national defence”, sparking fury from unions.

The move to protect the refinery – which is key to supplying Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports – came as a quarter of the country’s petrol stations were said to be closed or running short of supplies and drivers faced limits on how much fuel they could buy as the country heads for the Toussaint school holiday.

Prime Minister François Fillon has called an emergency cabinet meeting this morning to review the situation over the protests against the change in the retirement age.

Ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo, the main contender for Fillon’s job in the impending reshuffle, said the number of petrol station closures had fallen from 3,200 to 2,790. Only 14 of the 219 oil depots are blockaded.

However, in Loire-Atlantique 96 per cent of all fuel pumps are dry, although the prefecture says 200 tankers have left the depot at Donges to replenish supplies.

The north-west is worst-hit by the shortage and in Haute-Normandie prefects in Eure and Seine-Maritime have imposed limits on fuel puchases: Eure has maximum 20 litres for cars and 150 litres for lorries, while Seine-Maritime allows 30litres for cars. There are also supply problems in Ile-de-France.

All 12 oil refineries are still either closed or blockaded, despite the Grandpuits site near Melun in Seine-et-Marne being forced open by police. No sooner had police opened the site than strikers blockaded access roads, halting all traffic.

The move by Seine-et-Marne prefect Michel Guillot to commandeer the refinery staff to go back to work as it was a vital part of the military structure has sparked fury and the promise of court action by the unions.

Total CGT official Charles Foulard said it was an extremely serious move, a “reminder of the days of Pétain”. A colleague said: “We are not at war, we are not in a state of siege, the defence code does not apply in this case.”

The union has promised to launch legal action against the requisition; staff who had been commandeered to work at the refinery turned up wearing white armbands as a protest.

Police also cleared protestors from the industrial zone at Amiens and the Lespinasse oil depot at Toulouse.

The continuing disruption and fears of petrol shortages have sparked a surge in the number of cancellations at car-hire firm Europcar and there are growing fears that the tourist industry could be hit over the Toussaint holiday.

Other sectors are also affected by the action, with the petrochemical industry saying it is losing €100 million a day.

Construction companies fear having to lay off staff: the Fédération Nationale des Travaux Publics said that 15,000 workers could face chômage technique because of the lack of tar.

Photo: richard villalon - Fotolia.com