#Protesting #farmers #blocked #main #roads #Paris
France, the European Union’s biggest producer of agricultural products, has seen a series of protests in recent weeks, with farmers lashing out at insufficient incomes, red tape and environmental policies they say are undermining their ability to compete with less restrictive countries.
Protesting farmers blocked the A13 highway to the west of the capital, the A4 highway to the east, and hundreds of tractors drove from the south on the A6 highway towards Paris. By noon, they had achieved their goal of setting up eight roadblocks on the main roads to Paris, according to traffic watchdog Sytadin.
Farmers demanded “answers” and said it was their decisive battle “for survival”. A poster on one tractor read: “We will not die in silence.”
Airports are guarded by the police
In response, the government ordered the deployment of 15,000 policemen and gendarmes. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered security forces to exercise restraint, but also warned farmers to stay away from strategic locations. “We will not allow government buildings, tax offices, shopping malls to be damaged or trucks transporting products from abroad to be stopped,” he said.
According to Mr. Darmanin, the protests will not be allowed to affect Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports or disrupt the operations of the international wholesale food market “Rungis” located in the southern part of the city. Armored police vehicles were deployed there on Monday after farmers threatened to “occupy” it. G. Darmanin said that the police and gendarmes were ordered to prevent the invasion of Paris itself.
The government is trying to prevent farmers’ discontent from spreading ahead of June’s European Parliament elections, seen as a test for President Emmanuel Macron’s government. On Monday, Macron held a meeting with several ministers to discuss the situation. Macron plans to meet European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the crisis and the support measures farmers are demanding at the European Union level, his office said.
Farmers in neighboring Belgium have also stepped up their campaign, and in recent weeks farmers’ protests have taken place in Germany, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands.
