Guillotine on French pensions debate

The opposition tabled hundreds of amendments to the Bill raising the retirement age to 62.

The government is ordering senators to vote on a package under which they can still present the remaining 250 amendments – of some 1,000 – but they cannot vote on each one.

Labour Minister Eric Woerth said yesterday the debate was in the third week, and "it's time for the Senate to act."

A Senate vote is expected by the end of the week. Each chamber gets a final vote next week.

Protesters blockaded Marseille's airport, American singer Lady Gaga postponed concerts in Paris today and tomorrow because it was not known if lorries carrying equipment could get through and rioting youths attacked police in Lyon.

A quarter of the nation's petrol stations were out of fuel, despite President Nicolas Sarkozy's orders to force open depots barricaded by striking workers.

Petrol shortages and violence around student protests have heightened the standoff between the government and unions that see retirement at 60 as a hard-earned right.

New violence broke out in Lyon, as police chased youths who overturned a car and hurled bottles. Riot officers fired tear gas.

Mr Sarkozy declared: "It is not troublemakers who will have the last word in a democracy." He accused strikers of "taking the economy, businesses, daily life hostage."

Students barricaded high schools and took to the streets nationwide.

Hundreds filled the port of Marseille – where dozens of ships are waiting in the Mediterranean after strikers blocked access to an oil terminal.

The French government says raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and overhauling the pension system are vital to ensuring that future generations receive any pensions at all.

French unions say the working class would be unfairly punished by the pension reform.