Highlights: French farmers block roads around Paris. New day of action for farmers this Monday, January 29, 2029. The objective: to try to block Rungis, a symbolic place because it supplies Paris and the entire Île-de-France region. At 2 p.m., at the Buchelay toll station in Yvelines northwest of Paris, the A13 motorway was blocked in the province-Paris direction. On the other side of the capital, in Jossigny, tractors were positioned in both directions of traffic to block the A4.

New day of action for farmers this Monday, January 29, 2029. Blockages on several highways leading to Paris have begun. The objective: to try to block Rungis, a symbolic place because…

French farmers block roads around Paris

New day of action for farmers this Monday, January 29, 2029. Blockages on several highways leading to Paris have begun. The objective: to try to block Rungis, a symbolic place because its international market supplies Paris and the entire Île-de-France region.

The mobilization of farmers across Europe reaches a new milestone this Monday, January 29, 2024, with the announced headquarters of Paris, France. AFP - CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT

By: RFI Follow

In France, angry farmers began blocking the main routes into Paris. They plan to install 8 roadblocks around the capital in order to make it a siege to maintain pressure on the government and obtain new measures.

Farmers' blockage points around Paris. © FMM Graphic Studio

The siege of Paris in progress

At 2 p.m., at the Buchelay toll station in Yvelines northwest of Paris, the A13 motorway was blocked in the province-Paris direction. The farmers say they are ready to stay several days if their demands are not met.

On the other side of the capital, in Jossigny (Seine-et-Marne), tractors were positioned in both directions of traffic to block the A4. They are planning generators, site toilets and braziers so they can spend at least three days on site.

A4 between Reims and Paris @RFI pic.twitter.com/KH94Ddy100

— Nathanaël Vittrant (@Nathanael_V) January 29, 2024

In total, eight “blocking points” on major highways a few kilometers or tens of kilometers from the Paris ring road are planned by the FNSEA and the Young Farmers (JA).

Thirty departments are affected, according to the gendarmerie and 16 highways are affected by this mobilization which affects all of France.

Also read: Anger of farmers in France: “direct and local sales protect us from unfair competition”

Block Rungis

A convoy of tractors left the southwest of France to block the Rungis market, in the Paris suburbs. He is expected on site Tuesday January 30 evening or Wednesday morning. Rungis is the first fresh produce market in the world, where a large majority of butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and restaurateurs in Île-de-France get their supplies.

To avoid this blockage, as well as that of Orly and Roissy airports, the deployment of 15,000 police officers and gendarmes was announced throughout the territory.

Also read: Anger of farmers: “Their income is very uncertain and subject to uncertainties”

What is the Rungis market?

Located south of Paris, the Rungis international market is structured into specialized pavilions intended to provide fresh products to professionals in Paris, but also to the entire Île-de-France region. Proof of its importance, it is also the largest market for agricultural products in the world, an essential place for a large part of the country.

Rungis in figures is:

234 hectares of surface area, the equivalent of a city within a city
3 million tonnes of goods pass through it per year, more than half of which are food products
an annual turnover of 10 billion euros

If the farmers want to join Rungis to demonstrate, it is quite simply because it is the central market of the capital, its suburbs, the neighboring departments and Europe. Concretely, almost everything you find on the stalls of greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers or even on the menu of restaurants in the Paris region, goes through Rungis. And to do this, the goods arrive every day in hundreds of chartered trucks to the hangars, but also by trains or by plane. Well-established mechanics and logistics that feed 18 million inhabitants, a little less than one in 3 French people.

A place inaugurated in 1969, which has become a real institution, and which replaced the old Halles in the center of Paris.

At the same time, snail operations organized by taxis, which are demanding from Health Insurance a renegotiation of the conditions of remuneration for patient transport, are blocking several routes in Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux.

Emmanuel Macron is due to hold a meeting at the Élysée around 3 p.m. this Monday, January 29 to take stock of the situation, before the Council of Ministers scheduled for 4 p.m. The president is due to fly to Sweden late this afternoon for a state visit on Tuesday and Wednesday, before an extraordinary European Council in Brussels.

Read alsoThe FNSEA and JA farmers' unions in the Paris basin announce "a siege of the capital" from Monday

French farmers block roads around Paris

French farmers block roads around Paris

The siege of Paris in progress

Block Rungis

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