As mass French protests across the country continue, the strain on essential supply lines is becoming apparent.
The country’s oil industry association UFIP said that if strikes continued at all 12 of France’s refineries then there would be national shortages.
Total, the French oil giant, said 350 to 400 petrol stations were experiencing supply disruptions out of a total of 13,000.
Shortages looked likely to further worsen as truckers pledged to halt road transport of fuel to filling stations from last night (Sun).
“We have found the means to cope with the worst moments of the crisis (so far) but we cannot hold out forever,” warned Jean-Louis Schilansky, UFIP’s president.
Striking workers continued to block the Fos-Lavera fuel terminal near Marseilles yesterday, where 61 ships and 47 petrol tankers are unable to offload.
source: Telegraph
Other reports suggest that upwards of 1000 gas stations are now out of gas, with many more slated to run out in the coming days.
The French are protesting austerity measures, like the raising of the retirement age for French citizens. The likely outcome over coming weeks will be a more or less peaceful resolution to the problems in one way or another, probably with French protesters just giving up due to the fact that the government will not reinstate the old retirement age of 60.
But this highlights the potential danger of mass protests, riots and strikes.
Trend forecaster Gerald Celente recently forecast that similar events will occur in the United States in 2011 and 2012 as struggling Americans will take to the streets after having lost jobs, homes, dignity and the ability to feed their families.
No one can predict how bad a situation might come of large-scale gatherings of protesters throughout American cities, but as Celente likes to say, “When people lose everything, and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.”
Our just-in-time transportation infrastructure for essential items like food and gas could be hampered for days, perhaps weeks if people begin losing it and engaging in violent protests.
If such events were to occur on U.S. soil, we foresee violence first, and then a rapid deployment of U.S. military personnel to quell the disturbances.
Whatever the case, if such supply cuts were to ever occur, having at least a 30 day reserve of food, water, and even one to two tanks of gas may be of significant benefit.
The last thing you want to do, especially if you have a family depending on you, is to have to leave your home to go scavenging for food or gas in the middle of a post-Rodney King L.A. style riot or martial law.
maybe if they had done this back in the 40’s, they wouldn’t have been invaded… a fine time to get a backbone, people…
/fuQ the french
There are no riots in France. This is nonsense. Stop it.
I understand their disappointment but I have watched my retirement age change from 60 to 62 to 63 to 65 to 67 to 67 3/4. I don’t expect to “retire” on SSI or any government program. So if they get to retire at 62 they should thank their lucky stars.
C…….try adding 72. I just received a statement the other day and now it has 72 on it…..Just wondering when they are going to add 75
AUSTERITY, let’s see that’s when the middle class is hit by a massive currency devaluation, loses benefits they’ve paid for, get’s increased taxes, loses their savings, loses their homes and cars while the bankers and politicians that caused the problem go to villas on lake lucerne with all the stolen real wealth of the country.
I like twinkies! Visitors can fly in but they can’t leave……. What, no concorde SST aircraft for the first class with scatter x-ray? Maybe they will come over & free us! Small people get caught up in a protest mob waiting to riot.
http://www.businessinsider.com/french-protest-videos-2010-10#anarchists-close-to-the-bastille–in-paris-watch-for-a-crazy-karate-kick-at-005-1
Thanks Tom. Great vids, complete with European Disco music!
Posted at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/riot-protest-videos-from-france_102010 .
Not to take away from any of this violence, but most of them look like kids. I can’t imagine this sort of thing around here but anything can and likely will….
The sad fact of the matter is that the Europeans have the natural ability to throw a much better riot than Americans could ever concieve of.
Americans have historicly had a high tolerance for stupidity and arrogance, we have had a system that if used properly was able to peacefully settle most problems even if it took time. Today we no longer have that option, govicorp does whatever it pleases and the constitution be damned,Americans are finding it harder to get the ear of their servents in govt and to have them listen,I fear that the smoldering ember of liberty may erupt in a conflageration that consumes not only the evil servents but many patriots in its fury,in that the french have nothing on us…however we could take a lesson from them on how to agitate the ruling elite,eh?
I live near Marseille and this is what I am experiencing at the moment. My children go to school everyday and all of their teachers are there. They are not involved in any rioting, because they go to private schools. (Private schools are much cheaper in France than in the US)  There are three public high schools in the same vicinity as the private high school. There has been some protest, but it has not been serious or dangerous in nature. On one day my 14 year old was walking from the bus to his school when about 500 students came running toward him down the road. He stepped out of their way and just kept walking and noone bothered him. That is the only first hand experience any of them have had. They have however been talking with friends all over France and in some parts the rioting is bad. In Grenoble for example one of his friends said it was like a war zone. She went to school and the school sent her home because she was one of fifty students to show up out of almost a 1000 . I don’t know how many teachers there were, but probably not many.
As for gas, Stations are running out slowly. There are lines at the stations that are open. Not all of the refineries are closed in France. There are definitely fewer people on the roads and in the shops. I have a friend with a store and she told me business has slowed down some. I went grocery shopping yesterday and I didn’t notice any empty shelves, there were fewer people shopping. School vacation starts on Friday night, the strike will probably end at the end of the vacation.
As for the retirement issue, Max Keiser gave an interesting perspective on the situation. In an interview on Press TV he stated that the retirement funds were empty. The government, who manages them invested in the mortgage backed securities and the money that people have been paying in is gone. That is why people are rioting. I have no way of checking his information but it seems plausible to me.ÂÂ
@ Christine: A helping hand for you: http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/infographie/2010/10/19/la-carte-des-manifestations-du-19-octobre_1428097_823448.html#xtor=EPR-32280229-%5BNL_Titresdujour%5D-20101019-%5Bzonea] .
Be loved.
I have to admit, it seems the retirement age to be a cover for a much bigger deal. do the french really care that much about when they retire? i know it is an important detail in life but wow. certainly there is a better way to go about this?
the “strikes” in france have nothing to do with raising the pension age. this is propaganda by the banker controlled media.
the “strikes” are about the corrupt gangster bankers creating a disaster, walking off with the enormous trillion dollar spinoff profits and sticking the middle class with the consequences.
Christine… There is a possible federal government takeover of our private retirement accounts ( 401K and IRA) for just that reason. They cite the private union funds that are now underfunded and the government employees retirement that is now undrefunded. But if they fund them with my retirement, what will they give me when I retire??