Sarkozy sets the heavy squad on the riots as demonstrations over French pension reforms continue....

Mail Online ^ | 22nd October 2010

[EBH]

* Marseilles, Paris's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports affected

* Passengers forced to carry their own luggage off planes

* 3,000 of the country’s 12,000 petrol stations have run dry

* Disputes costing country £100million a day

Armed with pump-action shotguns, sidearms and stun grenades the officers look like they belong in a war zone.

In fact they are elite French policemen who were deployed to the historic centre of Lyon yesterday to deal with rioting students.

(Getty Image, go to link to see photos)

President Nicolas Sarkozy took the extreme measure in the face of growing protests against an unpopular law aimed at increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62.

Nicknamed ‘Sarko’s Stormtroopers’, the GIPN (National Police Intervention Group) faced down 2,000 youngsters in Place Bellecour where cars had been set on fire and shop windows smashed.

The elite unit, whose motto is Cohesion Brings Strength, was set up in 1972 to deal with terrorists and hostage takers.

‘Deploying them on the streets was a tactical decision deemed necessary because of the acts of violence and vandalism aimed at the community,’ said an interior ministry spokesman.

[Erasmus]

During the Reagan years here in the US, there was a union drive in Europe to force the gov’ts in at least a couple of countries to redefine full-time as 30 hours a week with no net pay cut. The ridiculous claim was, it would boost employment, when obviously the reverse is true.

Simultaneous with the French protestors, I saw a gaggle of young Germans demonstrating for the same thing at the Sindelfingen (Kreis Stuttgart) town hall.

[SunkenCiv]

There was also one report of a protest in Brooklyn.