Roundup: French police called to refinery amid escalating showdown over labor reform

During a pre-dawn operation, French police on Tuesday were called to a Fos-sur-Mer refinery in the southern port of Marseille where workers had formed a blockade to denounce labor code reform, the police prefecture said on Monday.

At 4:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) police broke up the blockade at a refinery and gas depot. Seven officers were slightly injured.

According to the CGT union, police used water canon and tear gas to force angry workers to lift the days-long blockade which caused a fuel shortage at hundreds of gas pumps in southeastern France.

Police also unblocked two oil depots in the northwestern cities of Brest and Lorient.

The union said France's eight refineries stopped working on Tuesday which is set to slash oil production by at least half.

Since last Thursday, stoppages by refinery workers coupled with truckers strikes have blocked both incoming and outgoing fuel distribution, an action that triggered oil shortages across France.

A total of 1,600 petrol pumps out of 12,500 stations are either partly or completely dry, raising alarm amongst motorists that there could be a severe shortage.

In a move to ease fears, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls argued strategic reserves were sufficient to keep the country's fuel stations operating, saying, "the situation is fully under control."

Speaking to France Culture radio, French President Francois Hollande, under a month-long pressure from the streets to reconsider the labor code reform, refused "a blockage founded by a strategy supported by a minority."

As the showdown between officials and unions over the controversial bill escalated, the CGT called for weekly strikes on the state-run railway company SNCF and open-ended strikes on bus and tram networks starting June 2, just a few days before the beginning of the European soccer tournament UEFA Euro 2016.

Due to planned industrial action scheduled for May 25 and 26, the SNCF expected less traffic disruptions compared to last week with four out of five trains expected to operate. Three out of four high-speed TGV will run, and six regional trains out of ten will be in service.

CGT's secretary-general Philippe Martinez accused the government of "playing a dangerous game" by turning a deaf ear to protests.

"This is a government which has turned its back on its promises and we are now seeing the consequences," he told news channel BFMTV.

"The collective actions will continue until the end, until the withdrawal of the reform," he stressed. Endit