The Eurotunnel was blocked for a second time this week as striking French ferry workers set tyres alight on the track. No trains were running for three hours, and only a restricted service will run tonight.
Not content with simply withdrawing their labour, around 30-40 of the marauding Frenchman, intent on causing maximum disruption to workers and holidaymakers on both sides of the channel, cut their way through fencing to ignite the blaze.
Striking ferry workers block #Eurostar trains between France & England for second time http://t.co/hN9iWST7xj pic.twitter.com/reEj76w6xx
— Mashable (@mashable) June 30, 2015
Chaos as some #Eurostar services resume, but those on earlier cancelled trains can only hope to travel tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/PyM6xQ6C1T — DLP Guide (@DLPGuide) June 30, 2015
The chaos caused by last week’s strikes gave the three thousand migrants camped out in Calais a perfect opportunity to try board lorries en masse, prompting the British government to send two kilometers of new fencing to France to booster security.
Gilles Garnier, a member of the French Communist Party’s National Executive Committee, told The Local, “It’s totally normal in a democratic society that strikes are allowed. Strikes are only forbidden in fascist regimes or dictatorships.” He added, without a hint of irony, that industrial action in France now is “nothing like it used to be.”
The French have certainly been on top form of late. Last Thursday Courtney Love said she would be “safer in Baghdad” after protesting French taxi drivers held her hostage in her car and shut down much of Paris.
A few hundred air traffic controllers caused disruption across most of the continent back in April by calling a last minute strike, and are already threatening a repeat this coming Thursday.
The episode has served to reinforce some time-honored stereotypes about our socialist cousin from across the channel.
#eurostar OK have to ask…”what the hell is wrong with the French?” Answers on a postcard please cos it’s the only way it will get here!
— Sue in Wales (@auldcrip) June 30, 2015
French cops can’t keep tunnel open, too busy keeping Uber shut. Air traffic controllers to strike Thursday. Bienvenue en France #calais
— BaronVelhurst (@BaronVelhurst) June 30, 2015
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