Pave: Aux Barricades !

Le jour 246 de Sarko

In the worker's paradise, the worker can do no wrong. [Pause.]

Managements and police please take note.

FRENCH POLICE FREE BRITISH ICE CREAM BOSS
HELD BY WORKERS; 14 HURT

SAINT-DIZIER January 15, 2008 (DNA/AFP) The British manager of an ice cream factory in France was freed by police on Tuesday after being held captive overnight by workers angry at planned job cuts, local officials said.

As [manager Prakash] Patel, who is of Indian origin, was trying to leave the plant on Monday evening, some 40 workers blocked his car and forced him to return to his office, where he passed the night.

On Thursday, Patel had lodged a complaint against a local union official over what he claimed were xenophobic insults. The union in turn deemed that step a "provocation."

Fourteen workers were hurt when police rescued Patel... Medical personnel said the 14 suffered light injuries or shock after police forced their way into the manager's office at the Cogesal-Miko plant, owned by Dutch food multinational Unilever.

[Departmental prefect] Yves Guillot:

Certain workers, despite being completely in the wrong, tried to stop the police getting in ... The police had to force their way in and there was a scuffle.

... A correspondent at the scene on Tuesday said some workers were continuing to burn tyres and pallets in front of the factory gates.

Then there is this retelling by Alain Didelot, a union official at the factory:

We were really scared. I was shocked. They were charging people like me who are 57 years old.

Oh! Boo hoo HOO. Poor M. Didelot! Brave enough to take a hostage, old enough to play on the barricades -- Oh! but it is so scary, so shocking when the police spoil your fun.

See here for another thuggish French direct action.

PFFT (What is this?): Affeared bullies 3½ | Rayonnement français 0