French Blockade:will the shops will run out of food?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

Friday 8 September 2000 'If this goes on, the shops will run out of food' By Harry de Quetteville in Paris and Sandra Laville

IN the mountains overlooking Nice, villagers are beginning to stockpile food and can no longer buy petrol. Filling stations have had their remaining fuel requisitioned by the government for emergency vehicles. As Mark Duncan, a Briton working in the south of France, drove to work yesterday from his home in the village of Tourette Levens, his path was blocked by queues of ambulances, fire engines and police cars at the local filling station. He said: "If this goes on over the weekend there is going to be a real possibility that the shops will run out of food.

"It all feels a bit crazy. When you aren't confronted by queues you are greeted everywhere you go with the so-called 'l'escargot' with lorry drivers, bus drivers and taxi drivers driving round and round Nice at about 5mph tooting their horns."

Sam Mooney, who also lives in Tourette Levens, has just a quarter of a tank of petrol left in her car. He said: "The only option left is to drive to Italy to fill up but I'm not sure if I've got enough fuel to get there." Ms Mooney, who is married to a Frenchman and works for an event management company in Nice, said: "We've had strikes before but nothing quite like this. Everything is grinding to a halt."

Across the country British tourists found their journey home frustrated by blockades. Many said they were running out of money and some feared they would run out of petrol before reaching the channel ports.

Angela Hill, on holiday with her husband, David, on the Ctte d'Azur, said: "We are stranded. The supermarkets are running out of food and people now just want to go home but they can't, so panic is really beginning to set in."

Hundreds of British tourists in the area have already run out of petrol and have little prospect of finding a service station that has not run dry.

Ian Davies, the British consul general in Marseilles, said he was powerless to help and warned that there was little prospect of a quick resolution to the blockades. "Some people may choose to fly out but it is very difficult to get to airports," he said.

Tim Green, a dairy farmer who has lived in France for 17 years, defended the blockades, saying: "They have definitely got an argument. All the farmers round here agree. Diesel prices have taken a real hike. I would be on the barricades with them if I could. But I haven't got enough fuel."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=002844489039691&rtmo=lnzQwvbt&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/9/8/wblok208.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 08, 2000

Answers

Martin -- I can't tank you enough for these timely & up-to-the minute sorts of reports on stories that have the greatest potential to EXPLODE ......

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), September 08, 2000.


I like the nut who says all this is justified, and he'd like to join them--if he could get enough fuel.

-- Uncle Fred (dogboy45@bigfoot.com), September 08, 2000.

This brings out a curious point; when will all the protesters, drivng around, blocading everthing, run out of fuel?

-- Nancy7 (nancy7@Hotmail.com), September 08, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ