Paris
French trade union activists sabotaged power lines this week to protest government plans to privatize the utilities. The resulting power outages caused mayhem in Paris, as trains and subways ground to a halt and half a million passengers were stranded for hours. The communist-backed CGT, the main union for utility workers, threatened more outages, saying the government was trying to rush through laws that would change Electricité de France and Gaz de France from state agencies into private companies. But union spokesman Frédéric Imbrecht said the outages would be “targeted,” not general. “We aren’t desperadoes,” he said. “We aren’t going to plunge Paris into darkness.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The best art exhibitions to book in 2026The Week Recommends Our pick of the shows to see across the UK, from epoch-defining embroidery to fresh looks at under-appreciated artists
-
What is the Donroe Doctrine?The Explainer Donald Trump has taken a 19th century US foreign policy and turbocharged it
-
Could a part-and-part mortgage help you on to the property ladder?Combining repayment and interest-only mortgages could become more popular as part of a push towards more flexible lending
