Keyword: fuel shortages

Police move in to clear a blockade at the Fos-sur-Mer oil refinery in southern France on Tuesday May 24th, 2016. © Reuters

Many oil refinery workers, rail workers and aviation staff are on strike or set to go out on strike as France suffers fuel shortages and a power struggle between the government and those opposed to controversial labour law reforms. Union activists have criticised the “extremely violent” actions of the state in removing the blockade at the Fos-sur-Mer oil refinery in the south of France. But despite the growing impact of their industrial action, union militants admit that they will not continue the action on their own indefinitely without the help of workers in other sectors. Mathilde Goanec reports.

President Hollande is forced to deny his country faces a ‘May revolution’, comparable to the students and workers’ revolt of May 1968.

Manuel Valls insists situation is 'fully under control' as union protests at oil refineries leave hundreds of French petrols stations without fuel.

Protests over labour law reform have led to blockades and fall in refinery output that hamper fuel supply and have prompted consumer panic.