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
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
