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French funfair workers block roads in protest

There were severe traffic delays in northern France on Tuesday as fairground entertainers protested by setting up burning blockades at the entrances to several city centres.

Published: 13 October 2015 12:51 CEST
French funfair workers block roads in protest
The roads were blocked in the northern French town of Rouen. Photo: AFP
Dozens of fairground entertainers blocked access to the city centres of Rouen, Calais, Lille, Arras, Amiens, Saint-Quentin, and Charleville-Mezieres on Tuesday, reported Le Parisien newspaper.
 
The workers were voicing their anger over the fact that their fairs have to be set up further and further from the city centres. 
 
It all kicked off in Rouen, where fairground operators were told by local authorities that their traditional Foire St Romain – the second biggest funfair in France – would not be held on the river bank in the centre of the city as normal, but a little way out of town.
 
The move was in accordance with safety precautions, the municipality said. 
 
The protests – which saw burning barricades set up at many of the entrances to the city centres – caused tailbacks in many of the northern French cities, especially Rouen (see pictures below), where buses and tramway services were heavily delayed.
 
One reader of The Local complained that the traffic was so bad that her husband gave up on driving and decided to walk to the train station, only to miss his connection.
 
“I say we all stay away from their fun fairs to protest the chaos that they have caused in these cities,” she said. 
 

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