Protests and Violence Escalate in France and Greece
- Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:12am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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PARIS (The Blaze/AP) — Youths have overturned a car and hurled bottles at police in the French city of Lyon amid nationwide tensions over raising the retirement age.
Police are chasing the protesters and trying to subdue the violence with tear gas.
Months of peaceful protests over the retirement reform have degenerated into violence in scattered sites around France. Lyon saw clashes Wednesday between youths and police, and the violence is resuming Thursday.
Also Thursday, protesters temporarily blockaded Marseille’s airport and have blocked high schools around the country.
Around the country, French protesters blockaded Marseille’s airport, truckers tied up highways and Lady Gaga canceled concerts in Paris ahead of a tense Senate vote Thursday on raising the retirement age.A quarter of the nation‘s gas stations were out of fuel despite President Nicolas Sarkozy’s orders to force open depots barricaded by striking workers.
Gasoline shortages and violence on the margins of student protests have heightened the standoff between the government and labor unions who see retirement at 60 as a hard-earned right.
Students barricaded a Paris high school and planned protests nationwide later Thursday, as the Senate wraps up protracted debate on a reform that Sarkozy calls crucial to his presidency.
Student protests have forced the government to its knees in the past, and in recent days some have degenerated into violence. Rioters threw stones at police Wednesday night in the city of Lyon.
The French government — like many heavily indebted governments around Europe — says raising the retirement age and overhauling the money-losing pension system is vital to ensuring that future generations receive any pensions at all.
French unions say the working class is unfairly punished by the pension reform and that the government should find money for the pension system elsewhere. They fear this reform will herald the end of an entire network of welfare benefits that make France an enviable place to work and live.
“We cannot stop now,” Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the Workers’ Force union, said Thursday of the protest movement.
Unions have held several rounds of one-day strikes in recent months, but scattered actions have turned increasingly radical as the bill heads for near-certain approval in the Senate. Leading labor unions are meeting Thursday to decide what to do next.
In Marseille, hundreds of workers blocked all access to the main airport for about three hours early Thursday. Passengers tugged suitcases along blocked roads as they hiked to the terminal, before police came in and the protesters dispersed.
Leshmi Taguelmint of the CGT trade union, remained determined. “We will continue our action, for the time being we have the whole population behind us and we will continue,” he told AP Television News.
Wildcat protests blocked train lines around Paris on Thursday. Protesters in cars and trucks blocked several highways around the country, from near Calais in the north to the Pyrenees in the south, according to the national road traffic center.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux lashed out at “certain people who take pieces of our territory for battlefields.” Speaking on Europe-1 radio Thursday, Hortefeux said 1,901 people have been detained since early last week.
Hortefeux insisted that the country has several weeks of gasoline reserves and that “the trend is toward improvement” in supplies. Still, he said a quarter of France’s gas stations lack fuel.
Kamal Guerfa works — or at least shows up for work — at a gas station in Lyon. But on Thursday, there was nothing to pump.
“We are here, ready to work, there’s no problem with that. The problem is that people come to get gas and there is none. That’s the problem,” he said.
Laurette Meyer’s heart sank when she saw the empty pumps.
“It is penalizing. We work in the building construction business. We have employees who drive all day long in order to build the houses for our customers and it’s starting to be very difficult,” she said.
Families around the country are on edge over the gasoline shortages because school vacations start Friday.
Authorities, however, are hoping that the vacations cool off student tempers. On Wednesday, hooded youths smashed store windows in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and the city of Lyon, as riot police sprayed tear gas in response.
On Thursday morning, students shut down the Turgot High School near the Place de la Republique in eastern Paris after a student union vote. Teens sat in the middle of the street, barring vehicle traffic. Some sang songs and chanted labor slogans while police guarded the area.
The U.S. Embassy in Paris warned Americans “to avoid demonstrations currently taking place in France.” The warning said peaceful demonstrations can escalate into violence, and urges visitors to check with their airlines in case of airport disruptions, and check with rental car agencies about the availability of gasoline.
The Senate vote on the measure is scheduled to come Thursday, but the debate could drag on for another day or two. Opposition Socialists proposed more than 1,000 amendments to the pension reform bill approved by the lower house of parliament last month, and the Senators must debate and vote on each one. As of Thursday morning, they still had more than 200 left.
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said both the strikes and the violence are taking an economic toll.
They’re hitting the entertainment industry, too. Lady Gaga’s website says the singer postponed two Paris concerts scheduled for Friday and Saturday “as there is no certainty the trucks can make it” to the show.
In Greece, the BBC reports the country’s worst civil unrest in more than 30 years has taken an even more dangerous turn.
Revolutionary Struggle, a domestic militant group described as “a radical leftist group” in a recent U.S. State Department terrorism report, claimed responsibility for an attack on riot police. That has left at least on officer in critical condition resulting from gun shot wounds.
Revolutionary Struggle is known for violence. In 2007 it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the U..S embassy in Athens. According to the U.S. State Department, and reported by the BBC, the group is responsible for “nine violent terrorist attacks since 2003, including the 2004 murder of a Greek guard outside the British defense attache’s residence.”
According to the BBC, the trouble in Greek mirrors that of another radical, anti-capitalist group N17:
The big question troubling Greece is whether there is going to be a revival of domestic terrorism along the lines of November 17 (N17), another “populist” left-wing anti-capitalist group, responsible for two dozen assassinations and scores of bomb attacks during a three-decade campaign.
The Greek authorities disbanded N17 after Savvas Xeros, a painter and son of an Orthodox priest, was caught in 2002 when the bomb he was planting exploded prematurely.
The involvement of British detectives, following N17‘s murder of the UK’s defence attache, Stephen Saunders, in 2000, also helped the Greek police bring the case to trial.
Fifteen members of N17 were given lengthy jail sentences.
The US state department says the Revolutionary Struggle has “aligned itself with the ideology of N17” and may have incorporated some of its former members.
The Greek riots are in response to austerity measures and the death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was killed by police in December of 2008 during a protest.
___
AP Television News reporters Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Jonathan Shenfield in Lyon contributed to this report.
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Comments (70)
ConstitutionalPatriot
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 12:47pmThose of you that think Unions are good thing‘s look at what Union’s are really all about today. The Union of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is not the Union of today. These Union’s are Socialist organizations that need to be shown for what they are going to do if allowed. Please talk to your neighbor’s, friends and any Union member (not Leadership) that you can. Be civil, start a dialog let’s do the right thing before it is to late. God Bless the United States of America!
Report Post »wash1776
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 12:07pmThese people are so greedy, they would rather burn down the country than give in a little.
Report Post »comradekoolaid
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:58amTypical violent behavior from liberal marxists can be attributed to their child-like mental capabilities when it comes to understanding personal responsibility, personal sacrifice, work-ethic, and common decency.
Report Post »The European Union will fall to Marxism and of course fail (just like France) and then from the ghettos of muslims, be dominated and turned into an islamic state…
psst
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:38amUnions said “Find the money somewhere else in the system”
Um!! Methinks the “System” is broken and broke.
Socialism cannot work.. Will never work.. The only reason this Ponzi/Pyramid scheme have worked for so long in Europe is because it has been State run.
Our own Socialist Socialist InSecurity and Medicare and Medicaid systems will eventually collapse.
The unions pension systems are underfunded across the country.. They are NOT sustainable..
The unions owns the democrat party. The democrats needs the unions to survive.
The unions needs the democrat party to push legislations that will benefit the unions at the expense of private industries.
Both the union bosses and the dem pols knows what they are doing will ruin the country.. Do they care? Hell no.They are getting whilst the getting is good. Let tomorrow takes care of itself.
As for the rank and file, many are too stupid to realize their gravy train will not, cannot last.They labour under the illusion that there are gravy factories across the country.
The democrat party needs the plantation lemmings.(dependency masses) The lemmings needs the democrat party.
The democrat party have deliberately created these dependency masses to sustain themselves in power. They need weak a citizenry that are still being convinced in the public sKrools that the government is the answer to all their needs.
The Host (US) will soon no longer have any blood left for the parasites to feed on.
Report Post »US are past the point of no return.
The average American families now needs to have both parents working to keep a decent standard of living.. The mothers cannot sit at home churning out babies that cannot be supported by one family member working..These are the responsible class who wants the best for their children and to bring them up in a nice environment. Hence they average 2 child.
The underclass is a whole nother matter. Many one parent families.. The Government tells them they don’t need husbands or fathers to take care of them.The Government will fill those roles.
Just keep on making new voters for US leftist pols and we”ll make sure to throw you a few bones.
Guess which class is making more new voters?
It’s strictly a numbers game. And in the end, the parasites will win.
If one have no skin in the game (pays no fed taxes) one should not be allowed to vote.
Yes.. Civil unrest IS in our future. The lemmings will burn the country down when the country runs out of bones to throw. And when the rank and file finally realize that really, those gravy factories were all illusions.
It will be Burn Baby Burn.
Flagwaver
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:27amJust remember, Obama wants us to be just like them!
Report Post »Disabledvet
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:27amSend in a foreign army all of the french protesters will give up, this is where america is heading under the community organizer we have in office now, why aren’t these people at work instead of protesting, oh yeah the governent gives them everything, kinda like the welfare group here to lazy to work.
Report Post »reconmarine
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:15amSocialists and liberals do love their violence.
Report Post »reconmarine
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:14amPay close attention friends. This is our future in Obama’s Amerika.
Report Post »welovetheUSA
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 10:44amThese kids are raised to believe the government is going to take care of them….Entitlements are not earned money…its stolen money and its never enough. So you work till your 62 wow…..you poor things.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 10:43amThe violent LEFT, a.k.a. communists & socialists are coming out in force to shut down any reform in France and welfare. Like leftists everywhere, financial reality has absolutely no effect on their thinking as it pertains to entitlements. Does anyone actually think it will be any different over here when conservatives take over the federal and state governments. We need to be prepared for violence and meet it with FORCE! If America allows The Left to intimidate by threats of violence, IT’S OVER!
Report Post »TxGunGuy
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:52amIf you have to cover your face, you are a coward of the first order.
Report Post »If you have to hide who you are then you don’t have the courage of your convictions.
I will stand with my head held high even if it’s to the gallows.
I have fought for and am still willing too die for my country and it’s constitution.
How about you?
jarheadjoe
Posted on October 22, 2010 at 3:14amhell yes
Report Post »cosmopro1965
Posted on October 22, 2010 at 11:23amI second that
Report Post »rekrapt
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:32amStudents… always the Marxists mobilize the students. Skulls-full-of-mush. Yet, we allow the same sort of brainwashing in our own schools. Time to make a stand, parents, against this sort of nonsense. Take back America’s Education System NOW!
Report Post »WestOfThePecos
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:09am… “Leshmi Taguelmint of the CGT trade union, remained determined. “We will continue our action, for the time being we have the whole population behind us and we will continue,” he told AP Television News.”.
I do believe there is a very large silent majority that just hasn’t come out of the countryside yet.
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:47amWatch closely America, this is our very-near future if failed “president” obama gets his way.
Report Post »LLATPOH
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:39amRetirement at 60 is a hard-earned right? I’ve also heard that a 40-hour work week for them is too much to handle.
I agree with DSTSS – this could be us one day.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:19amYeah – 60 and they only want to raise it to 62 – but the French riot over everything!! http://maboulette.wordpress.com
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:38amSomeone should tell the Frenchies and Greeks that protest is not a career path to anything…..
Report Post »BoilitDown
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:37amThe world is descending into violence and anarchy as our president is booking shows like Mythbusters and The Daily Show, campaigning 24/7. Figuring how to keep spending and borrowing while giving the appearance of creating jobs is far more important to him.
Report Post »He’ll be running interference for the unions and entitlements, saying that what‘s happening in Europe won’t be coming to America. “Don’t beleive your lying eyes” speeches are forthcoming from him.
Meanwhile, we’re talking about Whoopi, Dreyfuss and escaped chimps.
What practical use is Obama? I got nothin’.
WishWeWereFree
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:36amSounds like the parents of some high school students need to learn to use the rod of correction! I’d like to hear more from the people who are angry with the protestors.
Report Post »pecosval
Posted on October 22, 2010 at 2:10pmThe parents are NOT angry–they taught their children to have a sense of entitlement and be lazy
Report Post »TrueGrit
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:33amOh Yes… the administration would love this to be able to declare Martial Law and Curfews, etc.
Wolverine
Report Post »DanStlMo
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:59amFortunately, we surround them, not vice versa.
Report Post »GOTT-EM-MAUSER
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:55pmAh Yes they would. However that would be the point at which their illusion of INVICIBILITY would run head long into REALITY. They are indeed surrounded, outnumbered 1000 to 1, and out gunned beyond their wildest imagination. A rifle behind every blade of grass. ANYTIME they are READY. WE ARE.
Report Post »Jaronimo
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:32amViva la France
Report Post »BoilitDown
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:15amMore like – au revoir – France
Report Post »faktchekr
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:29amEuro-trash…sooo intelligent, still don‘t get that they ran out of other people’s money…get off your lazy butts and earn your own living…France is nothing more than a giant welfare state…oh but capitalism is “EVIL.”
Report Post »BoilitDown
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:45amLooks like it’s time for Atlas to Shrug in France. The parasite-class should get exactly what they’re actually asking for.
Report Post »adifftake
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:28amAnd Georgie boy Soros Smiles. The coward.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:43amYEP! He could loan – - – no give – - – France a billion dollars to “Help them out” then he could recall his gift and then take over the entire country when they couldn’t repay him. He could be the supreme dictator. He could control all the media, he could herd the citizens like sheep and have them do his bidding.
Come on George, you are missing a golden opportunity to become the dictator you’ve always wanted to be.
Report Post »snowleopard3200
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:56am@Starman70
Who says that is not part of a master plan of his anyway?
Report Post »Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:26amComing to a street near you, unless we nip this in the bud here, now, and that‘s still not a guarantee as there will be many people destroying their own neighborhoods because they can’t get free stuff anymore. I’m just glad I live in a small town.
Report Post »Amerigo Vespucci
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:25amIn 30 years, there will be no more “French” or “France”. It’s a mathmatical certainty. France will be a Muslim nation and will renamed Francistan.
Report Post »Richio
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:04am“Francistan”
Report Post »Now, that’s clever!!! LOL
DSTSS2010
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:21amWatch carefully, this could be us one day!
Report Post »MAULEMALL
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:28amVery soon but the unions will be hidden in fear…
Report Post »snowleopard3200
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:33amFrench unions say the working class is unfairly punished by the pension reform and that the government should find money for the pension system elsewhere. They fear this reform will herald the end of an entire network of welfare benefits that make France an enviable place to work and live.
Also it seems the socialist movements – note socialists – are calling for even more violence and protests to support the unions and the welfare programs these generations of students and workers have been accostomed to for generations.
Indeed this could become America if we are not careful, demonstrations of peaceful change is one thing. There is no excuse to sink into radicalism, hatered and violence in ANY situation just to protest ones ideals!!!
France has these riots every few years, and Greece is ablaze for similar reasons. Yet some lands such as Britain are not rioting out in the streets!
Change can come through peaceful means.
Ghandi once said “The Future is determined by What WE Do In The Present!”
Watch and warn people of America, for the Progressives and Radicals will need only one excuse to try and cause violence; only one excuse is needed by DC and the powers that be to declare martial law and seize absolute power.
The Watchmen need to be keen of eyes, ears, and stout of heart.
http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm (mix art)
Report Post »starman70
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:36amAMEN! When the money is drained from all the private and public pension funds and the U.S.government has no money to replace those funds, you WILL see this here.
Report Post »john seven eighteen
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 8:47amYes sir, coming to a town near you if we don’t stop the bleeding immediately!
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:23amSucks to be French right now but please remember the without France there might not have been a USA
Report Post »john seven eighteen
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 9:43amM31, Understood, but without the USA the French would be speaking German. Besides, even the French hate the French, they just don’t care what anybody else thinks.
Report Post »IntheKnowOG
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 10:03amNotice the age of the protesters…..not people who are near retirment age. I bet commies and anarchists are agitating this for the “community”.
Report Post »GREENGOHOSTING.COM
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 10:40amI can guarantee that this will be us one day, DSTSS2010. I fear for all of us the way everything is going right now.
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:08amJohn
I agree with you and can see this happening here
Vote on Nov 2nd
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:16amNo way, the police will not allow it to happen – we will not see it here! http://maboulette.wordpress.com
Report Post »JKN
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:27amOur canary in the gold mine if we don’t quickly change course…
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 11:58amWalk
I “walked” down Congress Ave New Haven, CT in the 60′s Riots Yes it can and has happened here. You know Huey Newton, and not to forget Barry’s particular friend , Bill Ayers.
Report Post »pajamash
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 1:41pmDSTSS2010 – Unfortunately sooner than you might think DSTSS2010. I heard a caller on a local radio station this morning (one that is pretty neutral with a slight lean left) saying that He believes Americans should be doing what the French are doing. I disagree most emphatically. The French need to realize the ride is over. They were lied to about the land being overflowing with milk and honey. Life is a struggle folks. Eventually the good times have to end and it is back to work. Working 2 more years is NOT a terrible thing, unfortunate, yes, but nothing one can’t get thru.
The partisanship needs to be toned down. We need everyone in America to come to the table and come up with a plan to pay down (and hopefully pay off some day) the debt. Which we will never be able to do with both side drawing a line in the sand followed by barbed wire, followed by a fence , followed by a wall, followed by….
Report Post »AmericanDogMan
Posted on October 21, 2010 at 4:34pmI agree. I think the fundamental thing is that people dont understand why they are mad. The government in france and Europe all over takes all their people money in taxes and makes promises they cant and wont keep. I would be pissed to.
T.E.A. just let me keep my money. Let everyone keep their money so we dont have to talk about expectations. America is not a business it’s a country and as a country America should get the hell out of the way of the American people doing business. Freedom is why America is great!
Not the federal governments financial status
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