Fishermen protesting fuel price hikes dispersed in France - VIDEO
Police officers dispersed a demonstration by fishermen in the commune of Fos-sur-Mer in southern France, who had blocked the access road to an oil depot in protest against rising fuel prices.
This was reported by the BFMTV television channel.
According to its information, the road was cleared at around 10:00 a.m. local time. With the support of police officers equipped with shields and protective gear, firefighters were able to extinguish and move to the roadside the burning wooden pallets scattered across the road.
During the protest action, which began at 03:00, about 100 tanker trucks had accumulated in front of the entrance to the oil depot, and they have now begun to enter the facility's territory.
According to footage broadcast by the television channel, several protest participants had earlier clashed with law enforcement officers. The police officers, who were pushing the demonstrators off the road, used tear gas against them.
The fishermen gathered at the oil depot held banners with the slogans "Europe is killing us" and "The EU is sinking our boats, and Paris is watching it." They also demanded a meeting with Minister-Delegate for the Sea and Fisheries Catherine Chabaud. Chabaud's office told the agency that the minister-delegate had taken the demonstrators' demands into account and "intends to receive them in the coming days in an atmosphere of dialogue."
"Of course, it is not only about the price of diesel fuel. And we are not looking for conflict, it is just that today this has become the very drop that made the cup overflow. And we have found ourselves on the verge of bankruptcy," one of the demonstration participants said. He added that now, because of the more expensive fuel and "rules not adapted to working conditions," fishermen effectively cannot go out to sea.
On the night of September 15, several dozen fishermen blocked the entrance to the oil depot in the commune of Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône department) in southern France. They were protesting against rising fuel prices and also expressed discontent with the "increase in administrative and regulatory restrictions." On September 14, fishermen's protests also took place near the communes of Sète and Port-Vendres in the south of the country. Professional fishermen's associations in the Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions and in Corsica, as well as seafarers' unions, announced their intention to hold a joint protest action in order to "obtain concrete answers" from the authorities in connection with the problems they face in their professional activities.
The average cost of fuel in France rose sharply after the start of the war of the United States and Israel against Iran. Diesel fuel for cars rose in price from about €1.7 per liter to €2.3, while SP95-E10 gasoline rose from €1.7 to €2.1 per liter. The cost of diesel fuel for fishing vessels before the start of the conflict was about 60 cents per liter, whereas now, according to Christine Poncharro, a representative of the regional fishing association of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it has risen to €1.2 per liter.
Source: TASS
