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Protesting against strict requirements: farmers in Lauterbourg near the German-French border
Photo: IMAGO / Ulrich Roth
Ahead of a meeting of agricultural associations with France's new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Monday, protesting farmers extended their blockades in the country:
In the south of France near Toulouse, several highways were blocked, as the broadcaster “France Info” reported.
Farmers spent the night at blockade posts on the A64, where a wall made of straw bales burst into flames during the night.
In the region, access to the nuclear power plant in Golfech was also blocked by farmers, as the newspaper “La Dépêche du Midi” reported.
Near the Spanish border near Perpignan, farmers occupied a toll booth on a highway.
There were also protests in Alsace on the German-French border near Lauterbourg.
French farmers, together with German farmers, blocked the bridge on a country road that connects Germany and the A35 motorway on the left bank of the Rhine towards Strasbourg, as the newspaper "Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" reported.
The farmers' blockades have been going on since Thursday.
With mobile toilets, power generators and food supplies at the site of the protests, the farmers are holding out.
The farmers are insisting on government help in view of the EHD cattle disease that has broken out in the region and only want to end their protest when the new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal listens to them locally.
Numerous other problems have accumulated among French farmers: for example, the water supply for their farms in regions where persistent drought is increasingly becoming a burden.
As in Germany, topics include the price of agricultural diesel, energy costs in general and the income situation of farmers as well as excessive regulations.
The agricultural associations announced that they would continue their protests this week.
czl/jpa/dpa