Farmers from the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA) from the Paris Basin have responded to the 10 proposals announced the day before by Gabriel Attal to calm the anger of farmers calling for a “siege of the capital”. “Starting Monday, January 29 at 2 p.m., farmers from the Aisne, Aube, Eure, Eure & Loir, Île-de-France, Marne, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, Seine & Marne, Seine-Maritime and Somme departments, members of the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs of the Grand Paris Basin, will begin a siege of the capital for an indefinite period,” they said in a statement, specifying that “all major roads leading to the capital will be occupied by farmers.”
“We want to dry up Paris,” said a young farmer executive.
Now at the forefront of agricultural protest, the Coordination rurale in the Lot-et-Garonne announced that its troops will take to the road on Monday to block the Rungis market near Paris.
This Sunday, two days before his speech on general policy, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will speak after visiting a cattle farm in Indre-et-Loire.
This new round of pressure comes as barriers are being lifted and traffic has resumed on some highways. For example, highway A9, which was closed on Friday morning due to actions by farmers on the route, reopened on Saturday “almost entirely at 5:30 p.m”. There were less than 40 actions affecting 28 departments on Saturday morning.
The government is also expected to go further. These measures “are called upon to be developed on other subjects,” said the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, while mentioning “measures” that he will announce “next week on viticulture,” or on the topic of long-term leave and “cash flow”.
In addition to blocking the Rungis market near Paris, the Coordination rurale of Lot-et-Garonne, whose troops will also be taking to the road on Monday, is as influential as it is feared in this “orchard of France.” This region controls the Chamber of Agriculture and is omnipresent in reality.
They were 600 to camp on the A62 and carried out various operations without anyone protesting – “of course I understand,” remarked the CEO of a Super U logistics base when tractors dumped manure.
