Oil refineries across France were blocked on Tuesday by workers taking part in a million-strong protest against the government’s plans to raise the retirement age.
Mass strikes also left thousands without electricity and disrupted schools, airports and trains, while the country’s biggest union, CGT, urged people to “paralyze France”.
Police said around 1.28 million people took part in the protests across France, including 81,000 in Paris.
The capital has taken the brunt of the strikes, with most metro lines running only during peak hours, according to the city’s transport agency, RATP.
The main education union, FSU, said on Sunday that 120 schools would close for the day and 60% of primary teachers would be on strike in the French capital.
France’s civil aviation authority, for its part, asked airlines to reduce scheduled flights by 20% and 30% at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris, respectively.
Air France said around 20% of short-haul flights would be cancelled, but long-haul services would be maintained. The airline warned, however, that “delays and last minute cancellations cannot be ruled out”.
EasyJet and British Airways also canceled flights.
National rail operator SNCF said very few regional trains would operate and that four out of five trains on the TGV, France’s high-speed intercity rail service, would be cancelled. Services will remain “heavily disrupted” on Wednesday, he added.
The cancellations are already affecting Eurostar trains connecting the main European capitals, including between London and Paris, and London and Amsterdam, with the interruption expected to extend until Wednesday.
Fuel deliveries to gas stations could also be affected. Eric Sellini of the CGT-Chimie, the oil industry’s main union, told CNN that workers were preventing shipments from leaving oil refineries across the country. At some refineries, the blockade will continue until the end of the week, Sellini said.
Total Energies confirmed shipments from its refineries were blocked on Tuesday, but said stocks at gas stations were at high levels.
“Our teams are mobilized to meet a demand that may be higher than normal and we have additional logistical resources if necessary,” the company said in a statement.
More than 40% of workers at French energy company EDF were on strike on Tuesday, according to a spokesman.
Another energy supplier, Enedis, said that up to 4,000 customers in Boulogne-sur-mer in northern France lost electricity on Tuesday morning. The company blamed striking union workers for the power cuts.
In Charleville, also in northern France, around 1,100 homes and businesses were left without natural gas for much of Tuesday, energy union representative Nadège Guth told local newspaper L’Ardennais in a video interview, adding that clients would be reconnected starting in the evening.
Strikes “going up a march”
France has suffered a series of strikes this year as workers protest against pension reforms planned by President Emmanuel Macron.
The reforms will gradually raise the age at which most French citizens can receive a state pension from 62 to 64.
The unions behind Tuesday’s protests called for a seventh day of action on March 11.
“To date, these huge mobilizations, driven by a united group of unions, have not received a response from the government. This cannot last. The president’s silence constitutes a serious problem of democracy,” the unions said at a joint press conference.
More than 1 million people also took part in the demonstrations on January 19, which brought the country to a standstill and closed the Eiffel Tower to visitors.
The government has said pension legislation is needed to tackle the funding shortfall, but the reforms have angered workers at a time when the cost of living is rising.
Government Minister Gabriel Attal denounced some protesters for calling for the French economy to be brought “to its knees”.
“We have always listened to those who opposed this reform within a democratic framework,” he said in the Senate.
The legislation is currently before French lawmakers, with a vote on the final version of the text due later this month.
Source: CNN Brasil
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