French police break up euro strike

Lorries with euros leave the mint under police protection

French riot police have forced their way into the only mint in the country producing euro coins, after a 10-day strike by workers over pay and conditions.

Ten busloads of police broke up a picket line of 300 workers preventing lorries carrying batches of coins from the mint at Pessac, near Bordeaux.

There was no violence as police took control

They also took away the master stamps used for pressing euro coins.

In a separate operation, police took the euro stamps from Paris's historic mint, the Hotel des Monnaies.

No euro coins have been produced at Pessac since 15 November, when the strike began.

However, the French authorities say enough euros have already been distributed for the changeover from the franc to the euro on 1 January.

Unions bitter

Unions said there was no violence as the police broke up the picket.

A witness quoted by the French news agency, AFP, said about 50 or 60 workers remained at the plant.

Union leaders were bitter about the police action, and criticised the Finance Minister, Laurent Fabius.

"Fabius chose the CRS [riot police] rather than negotiation," said the secretary-general of the Federation of State Workers, Jean-Louis Naudet.

Another union source told the Reuters news agency that stocks of euros at the mint were very low, so there was no real need to get the lorries out.

"It's more a way of breaking up the strike," he said.

The Pessac mint employs about 900 workers, and produces between 10 million and 12 million coins per day.