Tourists leave Corsica, strikers free up ports

BASTIA, FRANCE - Around 7000 stranded tourists were leaving Corsica on Sunday and workers striking over a ferry privatisation said they would lift a blockade of the French island's other ports until Tuesday.

Finance Minister Thierry Breton and Transport Minister Dominique Perben will visit Marseille on Monday to meet unions striking over the privatisation of ferry company SNCM.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin faces criticism that he failed to handle the SNCM privatisation delicately enough given its link to Corsica and its volatile politics.

Police in riot gear intervened on Saturday to reopen the blocked port of Ajaccio, to allow in food and medical supplies and let the first tourists leave. Port authorities said all holidaymakers should be able to leave by Monday evening.

Ajaccio had been the only open port until Corsica's main union decided at a meeting on Sunday to allow traffic at other ports to pass. The union plans to resume its blockade on Tuesday, when workers across France will strike to protest against high unemployment, low wages and several privatisations.

"We would like to respond in a thoughtful way without suffocating the economy of the island and ... to allow the tourists, who are suffering on the quays of the port of Corsica, to leave," said Corsican workers' union head Alain Mosconi.

Police on Saturday removed workers from the ship Girolata, which they had been occupying since Wednesday, blocking Ajaccio to other craft carrying cargo and passengers.

The strikes were called over the government's planned privatisation of SNCM, with the expected loss of 400 jobs including some in Corsica.

They have provoked violent protests and ignited political tensions on the island where separatists have carried out low-key attacks since the 1970s.

Groups of youths wearing balaclavas threw stones and bolts at police when 2000 protesters -- including several leading separatists -- marched in the town of Bastia on Saturday. Police responded with tear gas and one officer among the 500-strong force was injured.

Five ferries collected thousands more holiday makers on Sunday after about 7000 of them were taken to the French ports of Nice, Toulon and to the Italian port of Savona during the night. Around 15,000 tourists had been stuck on the island, some for nearly a week.

Each ship was searched before departure in order to prevent a repeat of the bomb alert on the Girolata, which left on Saturday morning with 525 passengers. A bomb squad was forced to land on the ship by helicopter in the middle of the sea, causing concern to passengers. It was found to be a false alert.

French police also intervened on Saturday to clear the mainland southern port of Marseille, including the Lavera and Fos petrochemical and oil terminals, which had also been blocked by workers protesting the SNCM privatisation.

Dock workers declared a strike in response to the police action, meaning any incoming ships could not be unloaded.

Breton told TF1 television station on Sunday that he would explain the government's plans when he met with unions on Monday.

"I want to respond, as transparently as I can, to all the questions, to everybody," he said.

- REUTERS