Europe:Police break barricades to access French Oil terminal

French police, determined to avoid further fuel shortages in the country, broke through barricades Friday to free access to a major French oil terminal.

President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the order to end the blockade at the Grandpuits refinery east of Paris, one of 12 refineries affected by the ongoing strikes against the government's planned pension reform.

Around 100 riot police moved in overnight Thursday and opened access to Grandpuits. Authorities, per decree, ordered workers to resume refining operations or face criminal prosecution. At least two protesters were hurt, the BBC reports.

One-in-five gas stations in France is still out of fuel, down from 40 percent earlier this week, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo revealed Friday. Grandpuits, operated by French oil giant Total, is critical to the fuel supply of the capital and its airports, observers say. However, fuel will remain scarce over the coming days, government officials have warned.

A strike at the Fos-Lavera terminal, France's largest, was in its 26th day Friday, with dozens of oil tankers stranded off the French coast.

Over the past weeks, several million people took the streets in France to protest the government's pension reform. It's aimed at gradually raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 by 2018 and full retirement from 65 to 67 by 2023.

The bill won passage late Friday with the French Senate voting 177-153 to raise the retirement age. Further approval of the measure is expected in the legislature next week.

Sarkozy, who is battling record-low popularity ratings, vowed to stick to his pension overhaul plans. They are aimed at securing a system as people are getting older and fitter, while there are fewer young people born to pay for the pensions of their parents and grandparents, Sarkozy argues.(iWireNews ™ and OfficialWire)

The nationwide strikes against his plans have paralyzed transport, sparked fuel shortages and disrupted school life. While the large majority of demonstrations were peaceful, some saw youths clashing with police, cars torched and shops looted, with violence continuing in Lyon Thursday.

Sarkozy vowed that violent protesters would be dealt with.

"They will be stopped, tracked down and punished, in Lyon and anywhere else, with no weakness," Sarkozy was quoted as saying by The New York Times. "Because in our democracy, there are many ways to express yourself. But violence is the most cowardly, the most gratuitous, and that is not acceptable."