8.34am: A period of disruptive rolling strikes enters its seventh day, as a defiant President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will push on with pension reforms. A crucial vote in the Senate, that will raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, is expected later this week.
France's 12 oil refineries remain blocked as part of the protests. Nine of the refineries were not producing any oil today, two were in the process of halting production and one was operating at a minimum level, the CGT and CFDT unions said.
Ministers are holding crisis meetings to tackle the fuel shortages, as Sarkozy appealed for calm.
Yesterday the unions said more than 3 million people took part in protests in more than 250 towns and cities across France. The authorities said the number was more like 1.1 million.
There has been a widely different reception to the protests and the strikes in the British press.
The Daily Mail's coverage reads like a horrified 18th century English account of the French revolution.
Their faces contorted with hatred, hundreds of thousands of protesters yesterday wreaked havoc across France, burning schools and cars, and fighting running battles with riot police.Bloody clashes erupted in 300 towns and cities, sparked by austerity measures aimed at dealing with the global financial crisis.
Henry Samuel, the Daily Telegraph's correspondent in Paris, argues it would be political suicide for Sarkozy to back down in the face of the protests.
Sarkozy hopes that the vote and, perhaps crucially, next week's school holidays will snuff out the protests. But as ever in France – particularly when students hit the streets – there is always a risk of revolution.
If union protests fizzle in favour of anarchic urban violence, that could play to Mr Sarkozy's strengths as a leader reputed to be tough on crime.
But writing in the Guardian, Tariq Ali, who led student protests in the UK in the 1960s, has been cheered by the sight of the French protests, and wonders why the English aren't more militant.
And what a joyous sight: school students marching in defence of old people's rights. Were there a Michelin Great Protest guide, France would still be top with three stars, with Greece a close second with two stars.
What a contrast with the miserable, measly actions being planned by the lily-livered English trade unions. There is growing anger and bitterness here too, but it is being recuperated by a petrified bureaucracy. A ritual protest has been planned, largely to demonstrate that they are doing something. But is this something better than nothing?
Also in the Guardian, French journalist and commentator Pierre Haski says the protests are becoming more dangerous.
This confrontation is getting harder by the day, more violent by the day, particularly with the growing involvement of young people from schools but also from disenfranchised suburbs. Confrontations with police are becoming routine, with their share of looting and even the burning of a school in Le Mans.
8.53am: Yesterday's protest turned violent in Lyon as looters took to the streets.
This YouTube footage shows some very robust policing.
And here's some footage of a raid on a shop by teenagers in hoodies.
8.59am: Footage of those looters below underlines a point made by the Financial Times today. It says union leaders are worried that the protests are getting out of control as unruly students and school children get involved.
As the vote approaches, tension has mounted and the union protests appear to have been hijacked by more radical elements, either from within the unions or from outside. High school students, for example, were at the forefront of Tuesday's demonstrations.In private, union leaders have greeted the arrival of these young and unpredictable protesters with dismay. Though many are peaceful, they say their presence significantly increases the risk a protest will end in violence. "We can't control the secondary school students," said the leader of one big union. "It is a very worrying situation."
9.02am: Our Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis has this round-up on the latest:
One third of petrol stations across France still have no fuel. Over night, police broke up barricades and lift blockades at three strategic fuel depots in Donge, Le Mans and La Rochelle – the west of France has been worst hit by the petrol blockades.
All of France's 12 refineries remained blockaded this morning and picket lines barred access to around 20 key fuel depots.
The prime minister François Fillon says it will take the country four – five days to get back to normal fuel levels. But France's autumn half-term holiday begins this weekend and panic-buying continued as families wondered whether they would have to cancel plans amid travel chaos.
Pickets and stoppages were expected at airports today with Toulouse airport blockaded this morning and cancellations at Orly and Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
Train, bus and tram staff were still striking across France today but walk-outs on some public transport had eased since yesterday, in Paris for example. In Marseille, buses and trams were not running and strikers blocked key road tunnels causing miles of tailbacks. Hauliers and freight delivery drivers across France were continuing their protests with more motorway go-slows planned.
The Senate will begin today its final phase of voting Sarkozy's pensions reform bill into law – the bill could be passed by Thursday or Friday.
Unions will meet tomorrow to decide whether and how to continue the protest movement once the law is signed in.
A poll by BVA for Les Echos this morning showed 59% of French people support the unions continuing the movement.
A key concern for the government is the mushrooming of the youth protest movement with hundreds of high-schools still blockaded. Lycée pupils are planning a demonstration in front of the Senate at 11am [10am BST] today. And police numbers were high in the centre of Lyon this morning after running battles between youths and riot police.
9.36am: There's been more tough talking from the French government.
The interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, threatened to send in paramilitary police to stop rioters who torched cars, trashed stores and injured police and others on the fringes of nationwide protests.
"We will mobilise all means necessary to put these thugs out of harm's way," he said, adding that he would not hesitate to send in armed units.
Hortefeux also said 1,423 people have been arrested for such violence in the past week, including the arrest of 428 "rioters" yesterday. Some 1,000 people remained in custody, he said.
On the fuel crisis he said three fuel depots in western France (La Rochelle, Donges and Le Mans) had been forced open "without incident."
He said the fuel blockade was irresponsible. "The current situation cannot last without very serious consequence for our social life, our economy, but also the health and safety of our citizens," the minister said.
He also condemned the action "thugs" who disrupted yesterday's protests. He said he respected citizen's right to strike and protest, but this did not involve a right to burn, assault and plunder.
On the trouble in Lyon Hortefeux talked of "1,300 goons - half of them under 18 - sowing terror in the city centre". He blamed the violence in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on gangs.
He also listed a number of other incidents including a school headmaster being beaten up in Poissy, a college director in Maisons-Alfort being injured by a "blast of projectiles", and a police officials car being overturned by 60 youths in Corbeil-Essones.
Hortefeux appealed to parents to stop their children taking part in rioting. "It is time to end the blockades of fuel depots. It is time to put an end to violence and unacceptable misbehaviour," he said.
10.06am: Angelique Chrisafis has made her way to the Senate where a demonstration by around 200 students has got underway.
"The next few days are crucial for Sarkozy," she says above the sound of chanting protesters. "It's almost snowballing beyond his control."
10.42am: The protests yesterday even reached French Guiana, the news site Rue89 reports.
10.50am: Le Parisien, is running an excellent live blog of the protests. Here's a selection of developments it is reporting this morning:
There appears to be fewer problems at French airports today with Paris Orly reporting a normal service, and a blockade of Toulouse-Blagnac lifted.
Unrest continues in Lyon, where another car has been torched, and Nanterre where 200 teenagers clashed with police and the radical leader Olivier Besancenot briefly led the blocade of a post office.
Teaching at 178 schools has been disrupted - fewer than half the total yesterday.
Sarkozy has issued another tough message calling for a return to normality and an end to fuel blockades.
11.11am: The French daily Le Figaro reports that senators are using delaying tactics to put off the vote on pension reports. It won't take place until Thursday night at the earliest it says.
11.16am: Students and union leaders have called for another big demonstration tomorrow in Paris, Angelique just called in to report. Speaking from a podium at the current demo outside the Senate, the organisers called for protester to gather at the Jussieu campus on Paris's left bank tomorrow at 2pm, she said.
Angelique adds that union activists have joined today's protest, and their have been speeches from Communist leaders. But so far only a few hundred people have joined in.
11.23am:
Desperate French motorists hunting for fuel are turning to an mobile phone apps to get real time updates on which petrol stations still have supplies, France-Soir reports.
A blog from Mobicarbu the developers of one of the apps has more information. The grey markers appear to show the garages that have run out of petrol.
11.39am: It's not not just fuel supplies. Striking museum workers blockaded the famous Louvre gallery for a couple of hours this morning, according to the latest update from Angelique.
11.48am: As Le Parisien noted, another vehicle has been torched in Lyon today (10.50am). One of the latest pictures from AP shows riot police moving back from a burning truck in the city.
12.02pm: "They put bins in front of school and set five bins on fire," 11-year-old Inès Collier-Myers describes the protests by older pupils at her high school in Paris. Those who broke the strike were pelted with eggs, she said. "It was quite scary".
12.27pm: Protesters say they will keep going even if Sarkozy gets his pension reforms through the Senate, Angelique Chrisafis reports fresh from this morning's demo in Paris. "The mood is very much lets keep going. How that's going to dent everyday lives depends very much on whether petrol can get back into petrol stations, and that won't be happening before the weekend," she says.
On the violence on the fringes of the protests, she says there's a "horrendous relationship between police and youths" which is a real problem in France today. "People aren't throwing stones because of pensions... children are throwing stones because they feel completely worthless in the eyes of the police," she says. The deployment of riot police is creating tension, she adds.
1.21pm: The French news site 20 mintues has a useful live blog on the crisis.
Here are some of the development it has reported in the last few hours:
Some bus drivers in Rennes have gone on strike after teargas was fired at the city's bus depot. The bus station in Marseille is also blocked.
A mixed picture is emerging from France's airports. Police stopped protesters blocking Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, a blockade at Clermont-Ferrand airport has been lifted, and Nantes airport is clear. But access to Roissy airport is difficult because of continuing demonstrations.
Arrests have been reported in the following cities: Bordeaux, Nantes (including a child of 10) and Mulhouse.
Police are trying stop a fuel blockades at Fos-sur-Mer and a blockade of the port of Brest has been lifted.
1.40pm: The queues outside petrol stations in Brunoy, a suburb to the south-east of Paris, look pretty bad. YouTube user cedric91800 has been going round in his car filming them.
1.52pm: Here's the moment police used teargas to disperse protesters gathered in Lyon's Place Bellecour, yesterday.
(Sorry we've had to turn off auto-refresh. The Guardian's website has been creaking under the weight of traffic from users looking for updates on Britain's spending review. Ditching auto-refresh helps keep the site going, apparently.)
2.01pm: "I hope they're arresting them," says Carol Neiley, an American living in Lyon, in an OMG-filled commentary in this video of the unrest in Lyon. "This is all because the French don't feel like working until they are 62 years old," she says as youths in hoodies flee from riot police. It's a clash of cultures on lots of levels.
2.29pm: Sarkozy has ordered all the fuel blockades to be lifted and has vowed again to push ahead with his pension reforms.
This is a roughly translated extract (with the help of Google translation).
I am very aware that pension reform is difficult. It is normal in a democracy for people to express their concern. But in expressing opposition some boundaries must not be crossed. It is my duty is to ensure the rule of law.
For millions of our citizens, transport is vital issue. It is a fundamental to freedom. In the last few days many French people have seen their lives disrupted by supply problems at service stations. Yesterday I gave instructions to unlock the fuel depots, to restore normal supply as soon possible.
The disorder caused by these blockades has produced many injustices. It has hindered the the majority of French who wish to continue to work and move freely. If it is not stopped it will create a paralysis in the country that many have long term damaging consequences for employment and economic activity. I would add the disorder both penalises the most vulnerable in French society, and those who are responsible for our health, safety and common good.
I appeal to everyone's sense of responsibility.
2.59pm: A fuel blockade at Port-de-Bouc in southern France has been lifted. The news site Rue89 has a report from the picket line.
3.08pm: For a bit of British, the chancellor George Osborne announced today that our retirement age will rise to 66 in 2020 (four years later than he wanted, but still.)
3.30pm: Disgruntled French drivers describe their frustration at trying to find fuel in this Guardian video.
And, our picture desk has put together another great collection of dramatic images from today.
3.39pm: "I know that the prevailing view outside this country is that these strikes are absurd manifestations of French petulance and immaturity," writes novelist Lucy Wadham, on her blog the Secret Life of France.
She adds:
Expecting to retire at 60? What planet do the French inhabit? And how wise is it to paralyse the nation, further threatening its struggling economy for the sake of a privilege that is doomed anyway?
The feeling here is that this is not just about the retirement age but about the future of politics in this country, a notion that may seem a little absurd to those of us who believe that the age of political engagement is dead and gone. It is part of the French paradox that politics are still defined, for better or worse, by the interaction, or rather the collision between authority and rebellion.
Wadham takes up the theme in a comment piece for CiF.
What's at stake here is not the retirement age, or jobs for students but the very nature of power in this country. If Sarkozy doesn't... back down, then this specifically French way of doing politics may be gone forever.
(That's it from me today. Thanks for all your comments. Angelique Chrisafis will be filing a story soon on today's events. Please look out for it on our France page.)
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