French fishermen block ports

French fishermen battling for cheaper fuel ignored calls by the government to lift their blockades of ports and fuel depots yesterday and found new ways to disrupt traffic on land and at sea. The fishermen say they will go bust unless they obtain discounted diesel at €0.40 per litre as opposed to €0.80 on the market. The price of marine diesel has surged by 30 per cent in the past four months.

The fishermen's protests have been escalating for a week and a government promise on Wednesday to provide €110 million in aid this year has failed to stop them. "What the grassroots want is to pay 40 cents a litre for diesel at the pump, nothing else will do," said David Bourrel, a fisherman from Paimpol in Brittany, just after a meeting with Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier in the region.

Fishermen used barbed wire to block roads leading to a fuel depot linked to France's biggest refinery at Gonfreville in Normandy, officials at oil firm Total said.