France's trade unions on Wednesday defended their decision to cut power to thousands of homes, companies and even the Bank of France to force the government to drop a wide-ranging pension reform, reports Reuters.
The power cuts, illegal under French law, deepened a sense of chaos in the second week of nationwide strikes that have crippled transport, shut schools and brought more than half a million people onto the street against President Emmanuel Macron's reform.
Asked on French radio whether the power cuts weren't a step too far, Philippe Martinez, the head of the hardline CGT union, said the cuts were necessary to force Macron to back down.
"I understand these workers' anger," the mustachioed union leader said. "These are targeted cuts. You'll understand that spitting on the public service can make some of us angry."
Following a meeting with government officials, he hinted at further cuts, saying "we may amplify these kinds of methods".
Macron condemned the power outages "in the strongest of terms" during a cabinet meeting, a government spokeswoman said. But his office said the president was open to "improvements" to his reform plans ahead of a new day of talks between his prime minister and union leaders.
After the talks, the leader of the more moderate CFDT union said the government had shown more "openness" but that a deal was still "very far" from being agreed.
The government is keen to reach a truce before Christmas, when millions of French people travel to spend the holiday with their families. French hotels, cafes and stores are already feeling the pain of the strike.
Macron's transport minister condemned the power cuts, which affected at least 150,000 homes on Tuesday according to the power grid, and said the government would ask the grid company to file complaints.
"Cutting power to blue-chip companies, prefectures, shopping malls, that's already rather questionable," Elisabeth Borne said. "But clinics, metro stations, fire brigades and thousands of French people also saw power cuts. This is far from normal ways of striking."
Power cuts are an old union tactic that started at the turn of the previous century and were used after World War Two but dropped later on because of fears of a public backlash, said Stephane Sirot, a historian at Cergy-Pontoise university.
"In the 90s, it was mostly set aside because some union members were worried it could turn public opinion against them," Sirot told Reuters. "So they adopted other methods, like cuts targeting the homes of the elite."