Jean-Luc Boujon (in Lyon) / Photo credits: JEFF PACHOUD / AFP 8:40 a.m., January 31, 2024

The anger does not fall on the side of the farmers who maintain the pressure on the government. While some of them are moving closer to Paris and the Rungis wholesale market, others are blocking several highways around Lyon. 

Farmers are approaching Paris and the Rungis wholesale market this Wednesday and are also continuing their progress towards Lyon, with the aim of blockading France's second city. Tractors blocked the A89, which links Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand, at the end of the day.

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“There is a desire to block Lyon”

Hitting hard and cornering Lyon is the objective that is emerging. This Wednesday morning, the A7 motorway is closed between the A7/A450 junction and diffuser 4 (Pierre-Bénite Nord) in both directions. The Villefranche-Limas toll, on the A6 motorway, is blocked in both directions for an indefinite period. The Saint-Quentin-Fallavier toll (A43) is blocked in the Chambéry-Lyon direction. The latest blockage point is on the A89 motorway, which links Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand. Around fifteen tractors have crossed the tracks and are blocking all access in both directions.

Monitored by numerous police forces, farmers came from the neighboring department of Loire to block Lyon. "There is a desire to block Lyon and [to block] around the big cities. The idea is to stay a little while until we are heard on our points of demand. Lyon is the second city ​​in France... The choice was quickly made to target this city for our blockades,” explains François, a breeder near Saint-Martin Laval.

Gabriel Attal's speech does not convince

Gabriel Attal's general policy speech was not convincing. “Clearly, it is not enough. There is not much on the Egalim law, not much on international agreements... As it stands, it is not enough,” continues the farmer at the microphone of Europe 1.

Once the breeders in the area have finished their morning work with their animals, they will come and join the processions already present. At the same time, two other blockages are planned for the day. On the A47 from Saint-Étienne and on the A42 from Ain, which could bring the number of blockages around Lyon to seven.