French farmers are driving tractors towards Paris as they start to make good on a threat to blockade the French capital for an indefinite period in a row over working conditions.
Protesters rejected concessions made by the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, at the weekend and promised to “besiege” Paris by paralysing the seven main motorways into the city by early afternoon.
At least 1,000 tractors were expected to be used in the blockade. They were expected to remain between 20-25 miles from the city centre, with the aim of restricting access in and out. This could disrupt access to the Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport north of the city and Orly airport in the south, as well as the region’s main fresh food market at Rungis.
The authorities were advising drivers to cancel or postpone all non-essential road travel.
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Farmers, particularly the country’s thousands of independent producers, say they are being strangled by EU and French bureaucracy and regulations and claim the traditional way of rural life is facing collapse. They are demanding fairer prices for produce, the continuation of subsidies on the agricultural diesel used to run their tractors and other vehicles, and financial aid for organic farmers.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said 15,000 police and gendarmes had been mobilised to prevent the tractors from entering Paris and other cities where protests are happening, and to keep access open to the airports and Rungis.
Several farmers’ union leaders have called on members to exert maximum pressure on the government this week, particularly in the run-up to Attal’s speech to parliament on Tuesday outlining his government’s political programme.
Continue here: The Guardian
