No Port in a Storm

Following up on this story, there's this story.

About 15,000 tourists remain stranded on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, as protesters continue to block ports amid industrial unrest.

On Saturday police removed strikers who had occupied Ajaccio harbour, enabling hundreds to return to the mainland.

But other sea ports - including Bastia - remain blocked by union activists.

They are protesting against the privatisation of the debt-ridden ferry company SNCM, in a dispute that has stoked nationalist feelings in Corsica.

The blockades began on Wednesday, after police arrested four nationalists accused of hijacking an SNCM ship in Marseille on the mainland.

They were released on Friday. But the protests continued, prompting authorities to send riot police to re-open the sea port in Ajaccio.

But remember, folks: the French are far more civilized and respectable than us redneck knuckle-dragging American hooligans.