Actions begin on the A1 highway north of Paris and south of Lille.
Farmers in the Oise region warned on Thursday of planned actions for Friday morning. Around 8 o’clock in the morning, approximately thirty tractors were present at the Arsy toll plaza on the A1 highway, about 80 kilometers from the capital, according to the FDSEA of Oise on Facebook. The farmers then published several videos of tractors arriving at the toll booth and driving on the highway. “We also need reinforcement on the A16,” FDSEA 60 requests.
On their part, the prefecture and farmers announced to Agence France-Presse that around 130 tractors were getting ready to enter the A1 highway, one at Senlis and the other near Compiègne. Traffic is still blocked in both directions at the Seclin interchange south of Lille.
“Today, we are waiting for responses from the Prime Minister and if we don’t get any, we will continue the movement,” summarizes Jérémy Allard, 25, President of the Young Farmers (JA) of the Quesnoy-sur-Deûle canton (North). “We want to make a living from our profession and not always suffer the unfair competition from other countries that do not respect the same standards.” “The government always goes in our favor when we speak with representatives, but it’s always just nice words,” he said.
The blockade disrupted traffic in the North, where heavy traffic of trucks and cars ended up on muddy departmental roads. The prefecture of Oise authorized the closure of the A1 for about forty kilometers until 11:59 p.m. on Friday and warned of “significant disruptions” to traffic.
