LILLE, France, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Protesting French truckers abandoned on Monday a road blockade they had set up near a major wholesale food market serving northern France, saying they had been threatened by non-striking drivers.
About 30 protesters at the Min de Lomme market gave up at 11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) after blocking access to it since Sunday evening.
"We ended the blockade because things were getting too hot and starting to turn bad," said Roger Chopin of the CFDT union, which with the CGT union called the strike on Sunday.
"We were letting food distributors drive through since dawn, but the drivers threatened to run us over if we didn't stop blocking access to Min (de Lomme). There weren't enough of us."
France's centre-right government has taken a firm line on the protests, warning truckers they could lose their driving licences if they block public roadways. Police have taken some strikers in for questioning in other parts of France.
The truckers' protest was set to snowball with a 32-hour strike by air traffic controllers from Monday evening and marches on Tuesday by tens of thousands of rail workers and other state employees fearful of privatisation and the future of French public services.