Strikers raise more fears of French fuel shortages

Striking French oil workers defied the government’s demand to drop their action and end fears of nationwide fuel shortages today.

Instead they stepped up their fight against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age.

Strikers piled up tyres in front of a refinery at Grandpuits, east of Paris, after being given a legal order insisting they reopen it.

Others formed a human chain to prevent refinery workers from entering the plant.

Strikers have blocked a dozen French refineries and numerous oil depots in the last week as part of widespread protests against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon pledged yesterday to do what was necessary to prevent fuel shortages, saying the government will allow them to hurt the French economy.

Worried motorists have flocked to filling stations in panic and found many empty, while aviation authorities told short-haul planes coming in from other European destinations to bring enough fuel to get back.

The head of France’s petroleum industry body said fuel reserves were “enough to keep us going for a few weeks.”

Jean-Louis Schilansky, president of the Petrol Industries Association, warned however that if the strikers continued to block fuel depots and if truckers join the movement, “then we will have a very big problem.”

Some truckers did join the action today, staging organised slowdowns aimed at causing traffic jams.

Cars and trucks drove at a snail’s pace along the main road between Paris and Lille, with red union flags waving out the windows.

Meanwhile, French youths who have backed the cause burned tyres and set up blockades outside some schools in Paris and nearby suburbs.