French riot police have forcibly expelled striking union workers who had blockaded ports in Corsica and southeastern France for days to protest against the planned privatisation of a state-run ferry operator.
In the Corsican port of Ajaccio, police backed by an EC-145 helicopter and armored vehicles removed trucks, trailers and about 10 striking workers who had blocked access to the only cargo vessel in the port, police officials said. No injuries were reported.
The French Mediterranean island of Corsica was nearly cut off from the rest of Europe on Friday when strikes spread to airports and cut maritime links. A rocket attack added to the mounting tensions.
The most senior French official in Corsica, Prefect Pierre-Rene Lemas, said some 15,000 people remained stranded on the island.
"It was absolutely essential to restart these vessels' round trips for the sake of public health. Our stocks of some medicines and blood products were not going to last beyond Monday night," the Prefect told journalists.
"The entire economy, the entire population is suffering the consequences of this labor conflict."
Shortly after the raid on the Corsica port, police stormed two oil terminals in the port blocked since Monday in the southeastern city of Marseille, opening them up to provide crude oil to refineries, regional official Christian Fremont said.