They don't disarm. Farmers begin their second day of blocking strategic routes around Paris on Tuesday, January 30, determined to show that they can hold out for several days if the “new measures” which are to be unveiled during the day by the government disappoint again.

On the A1, the A4, the A6, the A13... farmers spent the night in their tractor or in a semi-trailer with a floor covered in straw after starting Monday afternoon to block the roads. highways near the capital.

People gather in Jossigny, near Paris, on January 30, 2024, during a farmers' blockade on the A4 motorway. © Yves Herman, Reuters

More than a week after the first road blockade in Occitania, which launched the movement on January 26, other actions are planned throughout France, in various ways, but always to strike people's minds.

“New measures will be taken tomorrow” in favor of farmers, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot assured Monday after the Council of Ministers.

To try to extinguish the rising revolt in the countryside where many do not count their hours but are unable to make a living from their profession, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal unveiled emergency measures on Friday by traveling to the southwest of France.

“We must go further,” however, immediately concluded Arnaud Rousseau, president of the first French agricultural union, the FNSEA.

Farmers gather around bonfires as they block the middle of the highway during a demonstration, January 29, 2024 in Argenteuil, north of Paris. © Christophe Ena, AP

Gabriel Attal once again received Arnaud Rousseau and his counterpart from the allied Young Farmers (JA) union Arnaud Gaillot on Monday evening, with a view to outlining a way out of the crisis. The meeting lasted three and a half hours. The participants did not speak as they left.

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Not invited, the minority union Confédération paysanne, on the left, calls on other organizations to take with it mainly "two measures": "the cessation of free trade agreements and the immediate suspension of all negotiations" and "the ban formal declaration of the purchase of agricultural products below their cost price.

Environmental organizations are worried about a possible rollback on environmental standards, with the majority unions trying to push their advantage. They ask in particular to reconsider restrictions on the use of pesticides.

Something other than “measurements”

According to a police source, the blockages around Paris on Monday involved a thousand farmers and "a little more than 500 machines". “The objective of holding out until Friday is obvious,” according to this source.

At the blockage points, farmers brought supplies, generators, water tanks, site toilets. And organized guard tours and staff rotation.

Vehicles lined up during a blockade by farmers on the A4 motorway, in Jossigny, near Paris, January 29, 2024. © Yves Herman, Reuters

“We all want to return to our crops and our animals,” assures Samuel Vandaele, secretary general of FDSEA 77 and former president of the JA. “We don’t want to bother our fellow citizens,” he adds, while organizing the camp on Monday.

Gabriel Attal, who will make his general policy statement on Tuesday, notably announced on Friday inflated compensation for breeders whose cattle have been affected by epizootic hemorrhagic disease and the abandonment of the increase in the tax on non-road diesel (GNR ).

The demonstrators say they expect something other than "measurements" in a France which has lost three quarters of its operators in 50 years and is increasingly resorting to imports: one in two chickens consumed in France comes from elsewhere, like 60%. fruits.

A farmer in front of a barbecue during the blocking of a highway, January 29, 2024 in Argenteuil, north of Paris. © Christophe Ena, AP

A procession, which left Agen on Monday morning, is targeting the Rungis wholesale market, protected by gendarmerie armored vehicles.

Some 150 farmers with their tractors, coming from Haute-Garonne, Gers, Tarn and Ariège plan to block access to Toulouse airport on Tuesday morning, according to the secretary general of the FDSEA Haute-Garonne , Luc Mesbah.

In Mayenne, the FDSEA and the JA are threatening to wall off state services on Tuesday using tires, such as the Laval tax center and the sub-prefecture. They also plan to plant hedges in front of the administrative city and the public finance center of Laval.

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In another register, apples, cheeses, wines, milk should be offered for tasting to passers-by in front of the Indre-et-Loire prefecture.

In Corsica also, a demonstration is planned for 10 a.m. in Ajaccio, with a procession of tractors driving in step to the prefecture in the city center.

A sign of a certain excitement, the Drôme prefecture has asked residents of the department "not to build up food stocks", ensuring that "the main supermarkets in Drôme remain properly supplied with food and fuel".

With AFP

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