Pump chaos in France – the government is forced to intervene

 

Of: 

 

Nora Fernstedt 

 

Published: Less than 2 hours ago 

 

NEWS 

 

A strike in the petrol industry has led to a real soup in France. 

 

Motorists skip work and instead queue for hours to fill up. 

 

Now the government is forcing strikers to go back to work. 

 

Some queue at gas stations for four hours. Some people skip going to work just to be able to refuel. 

 

Those who manage to get to the pump take the opportunity to bunker down. A motorbike driver that France24 spoke to fills up several pet bottles with petrol before driving away.

A convenience store worker and a policeman on site at a gas station to try to bring order. Photo: Christophe Ena / AP 

 

In the middle of central Paris, traffic jams have begun to block even pedestrian and bicycle paths. 

 

The strike at the petrol companies TotalEnergie and Exxon Mobil, now in its third week, has led to pump chaos in France. 

 

On Tuesday, a third of all petrol stations in the country ran out or almost ran out of petrol. Motorists are forced to search frantically for a place to refuel. 

 

Odette, 81: Unacceptable 

 

Najat Hakem, 36, has tried three sandwiches on the outskirts of Paris - but in vain. He tells the AP news agency that he had to wait for at least an hour. 

 

- They say they have diesel and when it's my turn it runs out because people squeeze past in the queue. There are people on scooters or Uber cars. And everyone says they squeeze because they work. We also work, no one queues for nothing. 

 

81-year-old Odette Libert calls the whole thing "unacceptable in France". 

 

- Just because some strikers want to annoy the world. It's their problem, not the entire population's. If they don't want to work there, they should quit and go somewhere else, she says. 

 

The frustration does not seem to have led to any fights so far, but to harsh words in the queues, according to AP. 

 

 

French people have chosen to stand in fuel queues instead of working, it is reported. Photo: Laurent Cipriani / AP

 

The union's answer: There will be war 

The French government led by President Emmanuel Macron has been pressured to do something about the chaos. 

If the parties do not resolve the situation "immediately", the government will collect the gasoline by force, says government spokesman Olivier Veran, according to France24. 

And on Tuesday, word came that the government is forcing employees at the oil group Exxon Mobil to go back to work. 

Most of the unions representing the group's employees have agreed to a new wage agreement, writes Reuters. 

But the CGT, one of the biggest unions, wants to continue the strike - and has warned the government's move could lead to more unrest. 

- I can assure you that there will be war. If Macron wants this to spread to several places in the economy, let him do it, CGT representative Emanuel Lepine told the Franceinfo radio station. 

The strike has led to petrol running out at several petrol stations. Photo: Christophe Ena / AP