About 200 peasants from all over France demonstrated Thursday for more than five hours in and in front of the Pôle Emploi headquarters in Paris to demand from the executive a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that preserves agricultural employment, before being evacuated by the police, one member of which was injured.

The demonstration was completely dispersed around 7 p.m. by the police, in some confusion after several charges on the demonstrators to evacuate the site.

The police headquarters reported on Twitter that a police officer was "injured by a projectile throw and hospitalized".

Some 120 protesters were fined, she said.

Nicolas Girod, spokesperson for the Confédération paysanne, denounced "pressure on trade unions": "we want to piss off people who want to demonstrate, who want to assert strongly but in a non-violent way" their demands.

"Negotiate a meeting with Emmanuel Macron"

Thirty activists invaded the entrance hall at the end of the morning to demand an interview with the general management of Pôle Emploi, in order to "negotiate a meeting with Emmanuel Macron", explained Véronique Marchesseau, secretary general of the Peasant Confederation. In front of the building, a little more than 150 demonstrators, men and women, blocked the street, with a force of straw bales and wooden crates, organizing a barbecue in a friendly atmosphere, a stone's throw from the ring road.

Their goal: to obtain from the Head of State a European Common Agricultural Policy more oriented towards employment, a little less than a week after the presentation by the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie of the way in which the envelope of EU aid will be distributed by France for the period 2023-2027.

Arbitrations deemed too little green and not sufficiently favorable to small farms by the organizations united in the collective “Pour une autre PAC”, including the Confédération paysanne.

End of demo: we leave some traces.

After 8 hours of demonstration, the avenue du Docteur gley in Paris 20 will be unblocked.

Thank you to everyone !

We don't give anything up for #PacSociale #PACpourlEmploi.

The repression will not stop us in our desire for justice #ChangeonsDePAC pic.twitter.com/GBJASxHeVg

- Conf 'Paysanne (@ConfPaysanne) May 27, 2021

The demonstration took place calmly, before the police condemned the outcome of Pôle Emploi by forming a cordon, pushing back demonstrators, including the deputy of Ariège Bénédicte Taurine (LFI) who fell to the ground in the stampede.

"Our troops are determined"

“We have an appointment proposed by Paul Delduc, agricultural advisor to the Elysée.

We wanted a meeting with Macron of course, but we are going to go ", explained Mr. Girod, who sees" a step to go see Macron later ".

He had previously denounced arbitration "which will mean that we will continue to lose 10,000 to 15,000 peasants per year".

“They will meet here,” he lamented, pointing to the Pôle Emploi headquarters, in front of which empty boots had been symbolically placed.

"We are very angry, there is so much urgency to change things that this status quo is unbearable," denounced Laurence Marandola, head of the CAP at the Confédération paysanne.

According to her, the current distribution of CAP aid “has not enabled farmers to generate income.

It is a social plan, we have lost 15,000 farmers per year since 1988. "And to add:" As long as there is still the possibility of changing things, we will put pressure.

Our troops are determined.

"

Planet

Agriculture: The Confédération paysanne and NGOs call for an end to public aid for industrial agriculture

Planet

A new text to "preserve" the remuneration of farmers debated "from June"

  • Paris

  • Society

  • Employment center

  • Agriculture

  • Pac