Sarkozy mobilizes riot police to break French oil strike

[Hannah Bell]

The French government on Friday ordered CRS riot police to disperse workers occupying the strategic Fos-Lavéra oil depot near Marseille. Similar attacks were carried out at depots in Cournon d’Auvergne in central France and Ambès on the southwestern coast.

Port, transport and energy workers, joined by high school students around the country, are striking to oppose the deeply unpopular austerity policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The strikebreaking moves came after a week of mass protest actions against Sarkozy’s pension cuts, which include a two-year increase in the retirement age and a corresponding increase in the required pay-in period. A further national day of action against Sarkozy’s cuts is called for today, and another one-day strike is scheduled for Tuesday.

The use of state repression against the workers has placed in sharp relief the political issues at the heart of the struggle. The defense of pensions means a political confrontation between the working class and the French state. To be successful, the struggle must be consciously waged as a political fight to bring down the Sarkozy government.


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/fran-o16.shtml

[billlll]

1. are there daily polls of french opinion as the strike progresses?

Shd be

[TBF]

4. No because they are all out in the streets -

as we should be here.

[pampango]

10. A couple of polls show 57 to 63% of French support the strikers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/23/france-strikes-unions-government-victory

According to several opinion polls, the strike is supported by the majority of the French public, with a Viavoice poll published in Libération today showing 63% of respondents declaring themselves to be "on the side" of the protests. More generally, the poll said 45% of people were "revolted" by France's current socio-economic situation.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hSU_Ln7J6otAzjLsSOt8OxAbqFkw?docId=CNG.fcd3ca22ebdbeb6aedf8bd96251aff7c.51

More than half of French -- 57 percent -- want the government to draw up a new pension reform law, an opinion poll in the communist daily L'Humanite said, while 27 percent want the bill to remain as is.

[malaise]

2. That's why I said on my thread yesterday that

He has already lost and calling out the police will only make it worse -back to the 1960s

[malaise]

3. By the way there will be three million French people

demonstrating today. Looks like the truckers will go on strike Tuesday which will all but shut down fuel supplies.
The school children have joined the protests.

Sarkozy is fucked.

[TBF]

5. Recommended -

funny how no one wants to talk about Greece or France ... oh that's right maybe it would give us ideas.

[xchrom]

6. recommend

he can call them out -- that's not going to change The Peoples mind.

[ThomWV]

7. It is not an "oil strike" its a General Strike against raising the pension age

[Hannah Bell]

8. Try reading the article. The strikers are blocking oil depots & refinery workers are striking.

In attacking the oil depot occupations, Sarkozy is seeking to smash the workers’ most effective leverage against the cuts — the threat of a nationwide gasoline shortage. Sarkozy was personally present at the meeting late Thursday afternoon that decided on the police action, together with Prime Minister François Fillon, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, Labor Minister Eric Woerth and top members of Sarkozy’s staff.

It appears that Friday’s CRS operations will not be sufficient to restore gasoline supplies. Workers occupied seven more oil depots yesterday, although two of these occupations were subsequently lifted. According to France Inter reports, teachers joined strikers’ pickets at oil facilities in Bordeaux.

Moreover, the last two of mainland France’s 12 refineries that were still operating went on strike yesterday, completely shutting down the domestic refining industry. Such a shutdown has not taken place since the general strike of May-June 1968.

[blindpig]

9. Protests against austerity measure spread across Europe

Protests against austerity measure spread across Europe

PARIS — French oil workers expanded a strike yesterday over government plans to raise the retirement age, while European discontent over belt-tightening measures flared up in Portugal, Italy, and Greece.

All of France’s oil refineries were on strike after two more plants voted to join the protest yesterday. The government deployed police to force the reopening of several fuel depots that had been blocked, raising concerns of possible gas shortages.

French students clashed with police and labor leaders planned more demonstrations today and Tuesday.

Across Italy, thousands of students and teachers staged demonstrations to protest planned cuts in higher education, while Portugal’s minority government faced a battle in Parliament over its plan for abrupt tax hikes and deep spending cuts.

Meanwhile, a labor dispute that kept out thousands of visitors for three days from debt-ridden Greece’s most famous monument, the Acropolis, ended only after employees were dispersed by riot police using tear gas.

France’s transportation system was running more smoothly yesterday, after severe disruptions hit air, rail, and road traffic earlier in the week.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/10/16/protests_against_austerity_measure_spread_across_europe/

[Starry Messenger]

11. k & r

[maryf]

12. K&R elsewhere

"The ongoing oil strikes show the immense social power of the working class, which can bring the economy to a halt if it engages in determined struggle."

It is time for us to take some notes from Europe on how to protest...General Strike anyone?