Striking French refinery workers defy government threats

Striking French oil refinery employees voted to maintain blockades now in their third week, despite a government order for some of them to return to work in a bid to get fuel supplies flowing.

The industrial action in pursuit of pay hikes has paralysed six out of the seven fuel refineries in France, leading to shortages of petrol and diesel exacerbated by panic-buying from drivers.

But President Emmanuel Macron vowed in a prime-time television interview that things would return to normal "in the coming week".

Having previously threatened to use emergency powers to order essential workers back to the job in pain of fines or jail time, the government announced it was putting them into action.

Officials said that an Esso-Exxon-Mobil fuel depot in northwest France and another belonging to TotalEnergies in the northeast would be the first where workers are "requisitioned".

Long queues of motorists desperately seeking fuel again blocked streets in Paris and other major cities.

"I'm very angry, and very worried," she said. "I understand they want higher salaries, but I don't understand how they can halt an entire country."

"We can't allow the country to be blocked because a few people always want to take things further even when a deal has been reached" between bosses and some of the unions, Macron said.

He also warned managers that "it's important to get back around the table and talk".