French McDonald’s worker facing the sack doused body in petrol and threatened to burn himself alive

Drastic: Kamel Guemari doused himself in petrol and threatened to burn himself alive

A French McDonald’s worker doused his body in petrol and threatened to burn himself alive if he lost his job with the fast-food outlet. 

Kamel Guemari faces the sack along with 76 colleagues in Saint-Barthélémy, a suburb of Marseille in southern France, as McDonald’s is closing the franchise.

In protest, Guemari poured petrol over himself and locked himself into a toilet of the McDonald’s branch. 

‘I choose to die standing rather go through this misfortune, to see these people without a job,’ said Mr Guemari said in a video broadcast live on social media from inside the cubicle.

‘I’m ready to give up my life to save jobs.’

Other staff and customers meanwhile began screaming in panic, before being evacuated by police. 

‘McDonald’s played a big part in my life,’ said Mr Guemari. 

‘I don’t want to believe that this restaurant will no long want to give a chance to people living here.’ 

As he spoke, others could be heard crying, fearing that he was about to end his own life. 

In his live broadcast, Mr Guemari demanded to speak to Socialist Senator Samia Ghali and MP Jean-Luc Melenchon, of the France Unbowed Party and they both called to try to persuade him not to hurt himself.

After an hour and a half of negotiations, firefighters rushed in and stopped Mr Guemari igniting the petrol with a lighter.

The siege ended with Mr Guemari saying: ‘I did it for the 77 employees.’

Mr Guemari and his 76 colleagues in Saint-Barthélémy, a suburb of Marseille in southern France, are set to lose their jobs as McDonald's is closing the franchise where they work

Mr Guemari and his 76 colleagues in Saint-Barthélémy, a suburb of Marseille in southern France, are set to lose their jobs as McDonald’s is closing the franchise where they work

Mr Guemari was part of a group of demonstrators from the Force Ouvriere (Worker Strength) trade union that stormed the restaurant where many of them currently work full-time. 

The area suffers from high levels of unemployment and poverty, and many of the McDonalds workers feel they will be thrown on to the scrapheap. 

A Marseille police spokesman said: ‘The man who locked himself in to toilet, and threatened to burn himself alive, came out after negotiations. 

‘He’s now safe and sound. A perimeter set up by police around the restaurant has now been lifted.’

Mr Guemari was inspected by medical teams at the scene, but suffered no serious injuries and was not arrested.

McDonalds has been operating in France since 1979, and runs 1380 outlets in the country, where it is affectionately known as ‘McDo’.

It has now shut the one in Saint-Barthélémy, which is destined to become an Asian food restaurant.

The handover to new owners was meant to take place on Wednesday, but supporters of Mr Guemari and his colleagues have hired a lawyer to try and block the change of ownership. They will present their case at a civil court in Marseille on August 20th. 



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