Protesting French farmers surround Paris with tractor barricades, promising a “siege” for their demands.
French farmers surrounded Paris with traffic-disrupting barricades on Monday, using hundreds of tractors and mounds of hay bales to block highways leading to the French capital to pressure the government over the future of their sector, which was weakened by the repercussions of the war in Ukraine.
Blockages of main arteries around Paris – host of the Summer Olympics in six months – and protests elsewhere in France promise another difficult week for new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, less than a month after taking office.
Protesters said Mr Attal’s attempts last week to take measures in favor of agriculture and food production should be more lucrative, easier and fairer.
Farmers responded by deploying convoys of tractors, trailers and even rumbling harvesters on Monday in what they described as a “siege” of Paris to extract more concessions.
Some demonstrators came with supplies of food and water and tents to stay at the barricades if the government does not give ground.
Determined farmers
“We came to defend French agriculture” said Christophe Rossignol, a 52-year-old farmer who grows organic orchards and other crops. Tractors at the barricade east of Paris were parked to form what looks like an ear of wheat when viewed from the sky. “We are going from crisis to crisis,” Mr. Rossignol said. Some vehicles carried signs declaring “No food without farmers” and “Our end would mean starvation for you”.
The barricades highlighted the gap that separates France’s cities and countryside in terms of economic and social opportunities. Protesters said they felt ignored by government ministers who they accused of rarely venturing onto farms and not getting their shoes dirty.
The government announced the deployment of 15,000 police officers, mainly in the Paris region, to prevent demonstrators from entering the capital. Police officers and armored vehicles were also stationed at the Rungis market, a hub for the supply of fresh produce in Paris.
Road authorities in the Paris region reported blockages on the A1 motorway, just north of the city’s main international airport, on the A4 near the Disneyland amusement park, east of the capital, and on other usually busy highways.
The agricultural crisis is spreading in Europe
The crisis in the agricultural world is spreading across Europe. In Germany, farmers blocked traffic routes leading to several ports in the north of the country to protest against the removal of a tax advantage on agricultural diesel.
Several hundred tractors caused traffic disruptions throughout Hamburg’s city center as a farmers’ demonstration took place in front of the station. The protests also spread to Belgium where Belgian farmers carried out several operations including road blockages.
On February 1, President Emmanuel Macron will go to an extraordinary summit of the European Council to meet Ursula von der Leyen on the subject of the crisis in the agricultural world.