Following the interministerial crisis cell organized with the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, Gérald Darmanin announced the mobilization of 15,000 police officers and gendarmes in France on Monday to prevent tractors from entering “Paris and major cities.” The FNSEA and Young Farmers’ Union of the Grand Paris Basin have called for a “siege” of the capital starting at 2 p.m. on Monday.
Gérald Darmanin asked the leaders of the law enforcement forces on Sunday to establish “a significant defensive capability to prevent any blockage” by farmers at the Rungis market, the Parisian airports, and “to prevent any entry into Paris,” as announced by the Ministry of the Interior.
The Minister of the Interior also urged people in the Paris region to “anticipate” and not “clog the roads.” In a statement released Sunday evening, the Paris police prefecture also encouraged Parisians to “use public transportation for their travel in the Île-de-France region.”
On Sunday, the Minister of the Interior had gathered the directors general of the police and the gendarmerie, Frédéric Veaux and Christian Rodriguez, as well as the police prefect of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, at Place Beauvau. The minister reiterated his request for “restraint” on the part of law enforcement towards the farmers. “The posture remains the same: law enforcement must act with great restraint,” it was explained at Place Beauvau.
Law enforcement, it was added, “only intervene as a last resort and only when the integrity of individuals is threatened or public or private buildings/property are at serious risk of damage (such as actions against foreign trucks).
According to our information, two additional CRS companies are ready to be mobilized in the Île-de-France region if needed, bringing the total to nine available companies in the region.
On Sunday at noon, Marc Fesneau questioned the choice of the unions to block Paris. “Blocking Paris and the Paris region is an act that primarily penalizes Parisians. However, in Île-de-France, there are people who work, people who listen to them [the farmers], people who respect them,” reminded the Minister of Agriculture on BFMTV.
According to our information, the blockade of Paris, starting at 2 p.m., will be organized around eight blocking points: the Chennevières rest area on the A1, near Jossigny on the A4, at the Ourdy Total station on the A5, at the Villabé Bridge on the A6, at the Longvilliers Bridge on the A10, at the Buchelay toll gate on the A13, between the Gennevilliers Bridge and the D311 on the A15, and finally near the Isle-Adam interchange on the A16.
