PARIS, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- France is paralyzed by strikes over the government's pension reform.
"I want my pension at 60," reads a sign held high in the air by a French teenager who joined this week's protests in France. Even the young are now taking the streets -- dozens of high schools were affected by barricades -- after more than 1 million people marched in France Tuesday to protest plans for a pension overhaul.
"This movement is deeply anchored in the country," Bernard Thibault, a senior official of the CGT union, which called for the strikes, told France's LCI television. "The government is betting on this movement deteriorating, even breaking down. I think we have the means to disappoint them."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for an end to the striking, which in some cases involved youths clashing with riot police.
"What will they become if tomorrow there is no money to pay their pensions? I ask each of them to ask themselves the question," Sarkozy said.
The strikes protest the his government's pension reform, which is aimed at gradually raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 by 2018 and full retirement from 65 to 67 by 2023. Working its way through parliament, the bill has sparked nationwide protests.
While the strikes haven't managed to slow the French economy, there are fears that fuel could get short during the coming days.
Strikers Friday cut off fuel supplies to Paris' main airports through an oil pipeline, BBC News reports. Charles de Gaulle Airport, one of the largest in Europe, could run out of fuel as early as next week.
Work at all of France's 12 oil refineries has been affected by strikes, with dozens of oil tankers stuck in French ports because they can't unload or take up new crude.
A strike at the Fos-Lavera terminal, France's largest is in its 18th day. It has disrupted oil trade and refining at sites in France, Switzerland and Germany, keeping European prices for crude near five-month highs.
Panic buying has already set in, with truckers loading up on fuel to defend themselves against possible gasoline shortages.
"By some estimates the strike could continue during the next two weeks and lead to product shortages," the International Energy Agency warned this week. "The strike is pushing European product cracks and refining margins higher, drawing in products from abroad and likely encouraging other refiners to increase run rates."
