Avignon festival pulls the plug

The world-renowned Avignon festival was axed Thursday for the first time in its 57-year history after organizers said they could not cope with an actors’ strike that grounded the opening week. The plug was also pulled on an opera festival in nearby Aix-en-Provence as performers and stagehands reached deadlock with employers, who want to trim the arts sector’s generous unemployment benefit system.

Festival Director Bernard Faiver d’Arcier said the pressure of the ongoing strike was too much: “I don’t want to be bossed around by unions. And I absolutely refuse to have to resort to calling in the police.”