Comorans block air terminal entrance in demo over Yemenia crash

(6 Jul 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of Comorans blocking the entrance of the terminal for the Paris-San'a flight
2. Mid of people standing outside the terminal
3. Man with sign on his chest reading (French) "Yemeni Air Death"
4. People standing with their arms folded
5. Various passengers with luggage arriving and being prevented from entering the terminal
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Mustapha Abdou-Raouf, spokesman for the Associations and Friends of the Comoros:
"We don't want another drama with Yemenia airline. That's the first thing. Secondly we are telling passengers that there are other solutions. Yemenia hasn't got the monopoly on Comoros anymore today. And thirdly, today we will work with them in order to find a quick solution."
7. People looking at flight schedule screens in empty terminal
8. Screen announcing the 08.55 Marseille-San'a flight
9. Protesters outside terminal preventing passengers from going inside the terminal
10. Mid of two people shouting at each other
11. Mohamed Zoubeidi talking on mobile phone inside terminal
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Mohamed Zoubeidi, Representative of Yemenia Airways in Paris:
"We do not have anymore flights for Comoros departing from France, either from Marseille or from Paris. We have flights every Mondays and Fridays for San'a, that then go Djibouti, Djeda, Kula Lumpur, Jakarta. We have quite a lot of passengers, quite of lot of transit. As for San'a-Moroni, there are no more flights."
13. Zoubeidi talking on mobile phone
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Mohamed Zoubeidi, Representative of Yemenia Airways in Paris:
"Yemenia has decided to calm down things. We have been booed in Marseille so we have been asked to stop all our flights to the Comoros and the company has decided to suspend the flights for the time being until September."
15. Various of Comorans blocking passengers from entering in the terminal
STORYLINE
About two hundred Comorans blocked the entrance of the terminal in Roissy airport in Paris on Monday, to try to stop people boarding a Yemenia flight to Marseille and San'a, where connections are made for the Comoran capital, Moroni.
Members of the French Comoran community were protesting flight safety regulations at Yemenia following the crash of Yemenia Flight 626 last Tuesday off the Comoros Islands amid heavy winds.
A 12-year-old girl, Bahia Bakari, who clung to debris for up to 13 hours, is the only known survivor of the crash.
Mustapha Abdou-Raouf, a spokesman for the Associations and Friends of the Comoros, said the protestors wanted passengers to know there were alternative ways to get to the Comoros.
"Yemenia hasn't got the monopoly on Comoros anymore today. And thirdly, today we will work with them in order to find a quick solution," he said.
Critics within France's Comoran community have claimed that safety lapses may had doomed the aircraft.
Protesters have picketed the airport, prompting Yemenia to announce it was suspending all flights from Marseille to Moroni, for an indefinite period. Two weekend protests against the airline have drawn thousands in France.
Police said 5,000 people protested in Paris, a day after at least 10,000 marched in Marseille. Critics claim the airline uses planes in good condition for Europe but ones with safety lapses for the leg between San'a and Moroni.
The airline says it is trying to calm the situation.
"We have been booed in Marseille so we have been asked to stop all our flights to the Comoros and the company has decided to suspend the flights for the time being until September," said Mohamed Zoubeidi, Representative of Yemenia Airways in Paris
Plans were under way to retrieve the boxes within days, an official from Yemen said.
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