Protesting farmers prepared to encircle Paris, blocking highways leading into the French capital with tractors and hay bales for a second day on Tuesday.
The demonstrators are trying to pressure the government over the future of their industry, which has been battered by the war in Ukraine. Newly elected Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is facing another difficult week of blockades of major highways around Paris, exacerbated by protests in other parts of France.
Attal’s government was expected to announce new measures on Tuesday following talks with the union, after agricultural support measures unveiled last week failed to meet their demands that food production should be more lucrative, easier and fairer.
On Monday, farmers deployed convoys of tractors, trailers and combines in what they called a “siege” of Paris. The tractors along a barricade east of Paris were parked in such a way that they formed a figure resembling an ear of wheat seen from the air. Christophe Rossignol, a 52-year-old farmer of organic orchards and other crops, declared:
We’ve come to defend French agriculture. We go from crisis to crisis.
The government deployed 15,000 police officers to halt any attempt by protesters to enter the capital. Officers and armoured vehicles were also deployed in Paris’ fresh food supply centre, the Rungis market.
Transport authorities in the Paris region reported blockades on the A1 highway north of the city’s main international airport, on the A4 highway east of the capital and on other normally congested roads.
Arnaud Rousseau, president of the influential FNSEA agricultural union, clarified:
“Our goal isn’t to bother or to ruin French people’s lives. Our goal is to put pressure on the government to rapidly find solutions out of the crisis.”
Farmers involved in the Paris “siege” declared their intention to continue protesting at least until Thursday, when the leaders of the 27 European Union countries are due to meet in Brussels for a summit on financial aid to Ukraine. Paris-region farmer and protester Jean-Baptiste Benoit claimed:
We have everything we need to eat, barbecues, and a wall of hay to shield ourselves from the wind. We have the equipment and we’re settling in alright!
The French movement is another manifestation of the global food crisis, exacerbated by the almost two-year war in Ukraine. French farmers argue that higher prices for fertiliser, energy and other inputs to grow crops and feed livestock have deprived them of income.
Taxi drivers along with other disgruntled people also staged protests against slow driving on Monday, worsening traffic chaos in the Paris area and other parts of the country. Authorities advised road travellers to switch to public transport if possible.
