Towards a turning point in mobilization? With angry farmers determined to block major roads leading to Paris and other large cities and a government mobilizing 15,000 members of the police, the risk of an increase in tensions looms, Monday, January 29, over the farmers' movement.
From 2 p.m., the FNSEA and the Young Farmers (JA) of the greater Paris basin have planned eight "blocking points" on major highways a few kilometers or tens of kilometers from the ring road, but with the slogan " siege" of the capital, without time limit.
These are the area of Chennevières (A1), Jossigny (A4), Ourdy (A5), Villabé (A6), the Buchelay toll (A13), Longivilliers (A10), between the Gennevilliers bridge and the D311 (A15) and at the D301 interchange of Isle-Adam (A16), the FRSEA of Île-de-France told AFP on Sunday evening.
💬 “A military organization”
“Siege” of Paris: the president of the Young Farmers of Île-de-France evokes “seven blocking points all around” the capital pic.twitter.com/QY97ZE6vFe
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) January 28, 2024
Around Lyon, mobilization should resume early Monday, according to the Rhône prefecture, which mentioned a snail operation coming from the Lyonnais mountains then motorway blockages. The local branches of the FNSEA and the JA promised “ramifications throughout the region”.
For its part, the government announced that 15,000 members of the police would be mobilized on Monday to prevent tractors from entering "Paris and major cities".
Securing the Rungis market and Paris airports
At the end of an interministerial crisis meeting, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, also announced a "moderation" requested from the police, who should not "intervene on the points of blocking” but “securing” them.
He explained that President Emmanuel Macron had given "instructions" to "guarantee that tractors do not go to Paris and large cities so as not to create extremely serious difficulties", and also to ensure that the market Rungis international airport "can operate as well as the Parisian airports of Orly and Roissy".
From the start of the evening, law enforcement officers, including armored gendarmerie vehicles, were deployed around Rungis, south of the capital, noted an AFP journalist.
Also readNew generations of farmers: “We mobilize a lot of money for little profitability”
Back on the ground on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal vowed to “move quickly” to respond to the anger of farmers.
But the president of the FNSEA, France's leading agricultural union, urged the government to "go much further" and was ironic about the Prime Minister's communication strategy. "We didn't cope well with what happened last week: the communications, the cameras, the straw bale and all that, it's not our thing. What we need is, These are decisions which we feel change the software,” Arnaud Rousseau said on Sunday in front of farmers blocking the A16 motorway near Beauvais.
“As long as these demands are not met, the mobilization will be total”
Despite a lull, many road links remained cut on Sunday, from Normandy to Gard via the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Meuse.
FDSEA from regions bordering Île-de-France announced the participation of their members in the blockades in the Paris region with takeovers.
According to Arnaud Rousseau, the sequence which opens is that of a "week of all dangers, either because the government does not hear us, or because the anger will be such that everyone will then take their responsibilities". But he also called for “calm and determination”.
🔴Farmers' movement
🗣️"What was said this evening does not calm the anger. We must go further", insists the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau. pic.twitter.com/Pd1lwHV3Oa
— TF1Info (@TF1Info) January 26, 2024
For his part, Gabriel Attal conceded "that, through these first measures [announced Friday, Editor's note], we have not yet responded to everything I have just mentioned and what constitutes discomfort and unease of our farmers today. “And I am determined to move forward, move forward resolutely, move forward quickly,” declared the Prime Minister in La Riche (Indre-et-Loire).
“I confirm to him, we must go much further,” replied Arnaud Rousseau, who presented dozens of grievances to the government on Wednesday: “As long as these demands are not met, the mobilization will be total.”
Gabriel Attal unveiled emergency measures on Friday, including the abandonment of the increase in the tax on non-road diesel (GNR), inflated compensation for breeders whose cattle have been affected by epizootic hemorrhagic disease, sanctions heavy actions against three agri-food manufacturers not respecting the Egalim laws on prices.
With AFP
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