Transcript of: Paris strikes poised to paralyze French economy
BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:
Now we turn overseas, to
France
specifically, where days of sometimes violent protests threaten to paralyze the country. The protesters say they want to preserve
a way of life
. The
government
says it's just facing economic reality. The issue here, a plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. Our own
Stephanie Gosk
is with us tonight from
Paris
.
Stephanie
, good evening.
STEPHANIE GOSK reporting:
Good evening,
Brian
. Well, the
government
's proposing just a two-year increase, but that two-year increase is enough to trigger strikes that threaten to strangle the economy here. Today students protested against police in a number of locations, including the suburbs of
Paris
. They lit cars on fire and the police responded with
tear gas
. Tomorrow there are fears that there could be more violence. There is a nationwide strike that has been called for. They expect millions of demonstrators to turn out on the streets.
All of this
ahead of the scheduled vote on Thursday by the
government
. The
government
is expected to pass this proposal. Now, the strike is being organized by union workers, and they've spent the last week blockading fuel supplies at both depots and refineries around
France
. It has led to fuel shortages. Today
1500
gas stations
were facing critically low supplies and many of them were forced to close. Tomorrow two of
France
's largest airports,
Orly
and
Charles de Gaulle
, say they could see as many as 50 percent of their flights canceled.
Brian
:
WILLIAMS:
And,
Stephanie
, while all this is going on, you're in the grips there of a potential new terror attack warning. Tell us about that.
GOSK:
Well, this was based on comments that the interior minister made during a talk show yesterday. And he was asked whether there was still a threat here in
Paris
, and he mentioned that the
French government
had received intelligence from Saudi officials. But -- there were a few mentions of it in the
French media
last night, but by today we didn't see any mention of it, and that's because the French are really now more concerned about where they're going to find enough gas to fill up their cars.
Brian
:
WILLIAMS:
As often happens.
Stephanie Gosk
, in
Paris
for us tonight,
“ ”