French president Nicolas Sarkozy set up a government crisis centre yesterday after an escalation in the standoff over pension reform brought violent street clashes and caused some petrol stations to run out of fuel.
On a day of high tension in the battle of wills between the government and trade unions over plans to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, lorry drivers joined the movement with go-slow protests and there were violent confrontations between youths and riot police in several cities.
Rolling strikes over Mr Sarkozy's plans have halted supplies from all but one of the country's 12 oil refineries over the past seven days and panic-buying has caused a 50 per cent jump in petrol sales.
The disruption will spread further today when unions hold another round of nationwide strikes and protests to raise the pressure in advance of Thursday's senate vote on the reform package. Air travel will be affected due to a walk-out by controllers, and Aer Lingus and Ryanair have been forced to cancel some of their French flights.
With many fuel depots blocked by pickets, some 1,500 petrol stations had run out of fuel by yesterday, industry groups said. France has started to draw on the industry's 30-day emergency reserves, and the government also has 98 days of oil stocks in a strategic reserve.
Speaking in the seaside resort of Deauville, where he is hosting a security summit with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian president Dimitri Medvedev, Mr Sarkozy said the reform was "essential" and insisted he would not back down. His government would ensure that petrol would not run out, he added.
Amid signs of union divisions, the government had in recent days grown optimistic that the protests would soon wind down, but tensions rose considerably yesterday.
Police fired tear gas at youths who set a car alight and threw rocks outside a school in the Paris suburb of Combs-la-Ville, and a man appeared briefly among the protesters to brandish a rifle at officers before melting back into the crowd, police said.