Economic and Financial Crisis

01/29/2009

A Mild Rage

Mass Strikes Hit France

Hundreds of thousands poured into the streets of France on Thursday to angrily protest President Nicolas Sarkozy's response to the economic crisis. Although services saw major disruptions, 'Black Thursday' failed to be as crippling as organizers had predicted.

Thursday's strikes in France were expected to be massive, intimidating and crippling. So far, though, they've only been big -- with hundreds of thousands turning out to join protests across the country.

The work stoppages were planned in protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the financial crisis. The current economic crisis has frightened the French. Although it has not been hit as hard as Iceland, Britain or Spain, France is seeing a spike in unemployment figures, a precipitous drop in consumer spending and predictions of flat-line growth in 2009.

Many fear the €26 billion ($33 billion) economic stimulus package drafted by Sarkozy's government in December won't do nearly enough to boost the flagging economy. In an unprecedented move, the country's eight national unions and opposition parties -- including the Socialists, communists and the far-left -- all came together in backing the strike, which had the support of the majority of French voters, according to polls.

"For several months now, especially since the crisis exploded, we have been asking the government for various measures, notably help to boost consumer spending," Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the Force Ouvriere union, told Reuters. "Up until now, we have not had any response, and when you don't get dialogue, you get a show of force."

Strike organizers had dubbed the event "Black Thursday," hoping that stoppages of trains, planes, busses and many public services -- from schools to the postal service -- would bring the country to a grinding halt.

Protesters flooded the streets around the country, carrying banners and shouting slogans. A large percentage of workers at schools, post offices, hospitals and banks walked off the job. Air, rail and commuter traffic was erratic, and thousands had to patiently wait through delays.

However, a law passed in 2007 requiring that minimal public transportation services be provided, kept the country from a total standstill. But those who opted to take public transit still faced long delays and crowds.

President Sarkozy cancelled his official appointments on Thursday and spent the day in the Elysee Palace without commenting publicly about the strikes. His government, meanwhile, is closely monitoring the protests and seeking to prevent them from growing into the type of unrest that gripped Paris suburbs in 2005 or mass protests just over a year ago against the loss of purchasing power and cuts in public sector spending.

The plan was to stage Black Thursday in 77 towns, with events starting on Wednesday night and continuing to Friday morning.

"Today is the first large day of unified mobilization," said Marie-Georges Buffet, the head of the French Communist Party, according to Associated Press. "I hope tomorrow that there will be others."

Protests related to the economic downturn have been seen in a number of European cities in recent weeks -- including a violent outbreak in Riga, Latvia that left 40 injured -- but the French demonstrations were meant to be different. Organizers of the French protests -- the first mass downturn demonstrations to be held in a major industrialized country -- however, had called for peaceful events and there were no reports of serious violence on Thursday.

jtw -- with wire reports

Article...

For reasons of data protection and privacy, your IP address will only be stored if you are a registered user of Facebook and you are currently logged in to the service. For more detailed information, please click on the "i" symbol.

Post to other social networks: