Barricades abandoned but grievances remain

The last of 119 blockades of French oil facilities were dismantled around noon yesterday, ending a six-day revolt against high fuel prices that brought the country to the brink of paralysis. Oil company lorries were given special permission to operate yesterday to begin resupplying 17,000 French petrol stations. It will take several days for supplies to return to normal.

Protesting hauliers, farmers and ambulance drivers started abandoning their barricades on Saturday afternoon, after the two main farmers' unions, FNSEA and CJDA, reached an agreement with the Agriculture Minister, Mr Jean Glavany, overnight.

Late on Saturday morning, the president of the hauliers' association, UNOSTRA, ordered his lorries to go home. UNOSTRA was the last hold-out, after two other freight federations earlier accepted a deal proposed by the transport minister, Mr Jean-Claude Gayssot.

Many of the protesters grumbled that they had not attained their objectives. "We're leaving because we no longer have national representatives to negotiate with the government," Mr Andre Vidal, a regional official of the FNTR hauliers' federation said.

"But there's a gap between the base and the national leaders. They didn't play the role we expected of them," he added. The farmers and lorry drivers threatened to resume the blockades if conditions do not improve.

Had the government not threatened to use force, the fuel protests probably would have continued. After a "crisis meeting" in the prime minister's office on Friday night, regional police chiefs made the rounds of the blockades to negotiate conditions for intervention by security forces.

The French Ministry of Defence was reportedly preparing military vehicles and heavy logistical equipment for action today, in the event the protesters defied agreements already reached.

But the government also made huge concessions. No group did as well as the fishermen, who started the wave of protests in the last week of August. But the farmers gained an additional Ffr460 million (£55.22 million) in relief on fuel taxes by staying on the barricades until the weekend.

The hauliers' deal did not change after the Transport Minister's September 6th offer of a 35 centime reduction per litre in diesel tax this year and a further 25 centime reduction next year. But the hauliers received promises that further rises in the cost of fuel will be absorbed by the government, and that they will be allowed to raise their fees to make up for the price of diesel.

Ambulance drivers received a 50 per cent reduction in their professional tax - up to Ffr2,000 (£240) per ambulance. Taxi drivers will now charge a Ffr30(£3.60) minimum fare and raise meter rates by 4.5 per cent. All of these "gifts" will be for paid by the French taxpayer and consumer, making public support for the protests somewhat ironic. The crisis was in many ways a tax revolt by proxy. An opinion poll published yesterday by the Journal du Dimanche showed that 79 per cent of the public supported the hauliers, while only 26 per cent supported the Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin. Only 9 per cent approved of intervention by the security forces.

The American actor Harrison Ford was one of the last foreigners to be caught by the protests.

He was filming a television advertisement for Lancia cars in the Calvados region on Saturday when he was surrounded by 40 demonstrators from the local restaurant federation, demanding that VAT in restaurants be reduced to 5.5 per cent. He eventually agreed to pose with the chefs for news photographers.