Alarge force of riot police was used in the French city of Marseille to break up a month-long strike by ferry workers protesting against planned cuts. They arrested 14 strikers who were blockading the Mediterranean city’s port in protest at plans to reduce summer crossings from Nice to Corsica. The workers bravely fought back by spraying police with water hoses.

At least 700 police officers were deployed to end the strike on 10th March 2011. Police boarded a docked car ferry ship, the Kalliste, to remove protesters. Protesters had commandeered lifeboats and strung rope and nets across the port’s entrance, disrupting maritime traffic. The strikers from the ferry company Societe Nationale Maritime Corse Mediterranee (SNCM) want the total number of ferries to remain the same so as to avoid job losses.