French strikers hobble public transport, ports

Tens of thousands of protesters put the squeeze on President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday as they blocked ports and demonstrated in the streets amid discontent over pinched pocketbooks and his reform plans.

Nearly 300,000 people marched in Paris and more than 100 towns and cities, while strikers hobbled train traffic and public services in a one-day walkout by state workers protesting plans to extend the retirement age.

In a separate protest, fishermen in several ports rejected a new government aid package aimed at compensating for soaring fuel costs, and continued to disrupt oil and other cargo traffic.

Sarkozy, who took office a year ago and promised to modernize France and give it a more competitive edge, faces more protests Saturday by teachers and students angry over job cuts.

Despite the pressure, Prime Minister Francois Fillon made clear Wednesday night that the government would stand firm on the retirement reform meant to bolster dwindling state coffers by forcing employees to work an extra year — for a total of 41 years — to collect full retirement benefits.

Police said 296,000 people took part in marches nationwide, including 28,000 in a march from the Bastille through Paris' Right Bank. Unions said nationwide figures hit as much as 700,000.

Many protesters from the private sector — including retail stores, aviation construction and metallurgy companies — joined the marches out of fear that state retirement reforms will trickle down to them, too.

Air France reported minor strike-related delays at Paris' Orly airports. While Marseille city transport was disrupted, the Paris Metro system was barely affected.

Fishermen, meanwhile, have been blocking ports for more than a week to demand more state aid to help them cope with soaring oil prices. On Wednesday, the government tried to assuage them with immediate aid — $63 million — and faster access to funds already promised.

At many ports, the compensation did not do the trick.

Scores of angry fishermen ransacked several supermarkets selling imported fish in three towns in Brittany — Saint-Brieuc, Quimper and Pont-L'Abbe, police said. In the Marseille region on the Mediterranean, police had to dislodge protesters blockading fuel depots in Fos-sur-Mer and La Mede, said Frederic Mateo, a union chief. A blockade remained at the depot at nearby Berre.

Some fishing unions are seeking to expand their protest Europe-wide, saying European Union quotas are further squeezing fishermen throughout the bloc since they can't boost their catches to make up for high diesel prices.

The blockades spurred panic gasoline-buying among car owners. The southern Var region banned the sale of fuel in portable cans until midnight Sunday.

"The common point of this mobilization is that no union is satisfied with the government approach," said Bernard Thibault, leader of the heavyweight CGT union. Making employees pay an extra year of retirement contributions is a "false solution," he said on France-2 TV.

With slow growth and battling a budget deficit, the government has little room to maneuver. Budget Minister Eric Woerth told the daily Le Figaro that the state cut 15,479 jobs in 2007, surpassing the target of 15,000 jobs. The goal is to cut one in two civil service jobs by 2009.

Even Finance Ministry employees have gone on strike this month, protesting the fusion of two services, taxes and accounting, part of Sarkozy's multidimensional reforms.

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Associated Press writer Jean-Marie Godard and Julien Proult in Paris, and Franck Jourdain in Brest, France, contributed to this report.