Paris--Workers opposed to a higher retirement age blocked access to airports in Paris and around the country on Tuesday. Hooded youths, meanwhile, smashed store windows amid clouds of teargas outside the capital. Riot police in black body armour forced striking workers away from blocked fuel depots in western France, restoring petrol to areas where pumps were dry after weeks of protests over the decision to raise the pension age from 60 to 62. Riot officers in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and the southeastern city of Lyon sprayed teargas but appeared unable to stop the violence that erupted this week after months of largely peaceful protests. President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed last night that his Union for a Popular Movement party would pass the reform in a Senate vote expected tonight. Sarkozy said he would "carry the retirement reform through to the end" as France's tolerance for a long tradition of strikes and protest appeared to be waning after weeks of snarled traffic, cancelled flights and dwindling petrol supplies and, now, rising urban violence. Protesters blocked the main road leading to one of two terminals at Orly airport last night, then moved to block the road to the other terminal. At Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris, the nation's biggest, protesters sang the French national anthem before pushing through a police barricade. The CGT transport union says protests also shut down the Clermont-Ferrand airport in the south and disrupted airports in Nice and Nantes. With nearly a third of France's petrol stations dry, authorities stepped in without incident overnight to force open three fuel depots blocked by striking workers for days, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said. Hortefeux warned that the blockades threatened emergency services and could have grave consequences for the entire French economy and public health and safety. "The right to strike does not give anyone the right to prevent people from working or the right to block things, or the right to prevent travel," he said. "The right to protest is not the right to break things, the right to set things on fire, the right to assault, the right to pillage. We will use all means necessary to get these delinquents." Over the past week, 1423 people have been detained for protest-related violence and 123 are facing charges. Police are looking at video surveillance to find more perpetrators. In Nanterre, on Tuesday, about 100 students blocked the school entrance and part of the highway in front of the school, while a "tranquillity team" of about 30 adults in special red jackets sought to keep things calm. Then about 100 other youths arrived and started darting through the town streets, smashing store windows and throwing stones. In Lyon, new clashes broke out, with rioters throwing projectiles and setting off flares. Police responded to that with teargas. This week's clashes revived memories of student unrest in 2006 that forced the government to abandon another highly unpopular labour bill. And the spectre of 2005 riots that spread through poor housing projects with disenfranchised immigrant populations is never far away. Students plan new protests tonight, with a demonstration in Paris hours before the Senate is expected to approve the retirement measure.
