Towards a Blockade of Paris and Rungis on Monday?

The mobilization of farmers continues but many roadblocks have been temporarily lifted for the weekend, before new actions planned for Monday. There are currently 38 roadblocks compared to 113 on Friday evening. The planned blocking of Paris next week by Young Farmers has not been decided yet, but some rural coordinations have announced that they will go to the outskirts of the capital and to the Rungis market.

In Oise, farmers who are blocking the A16 want to “put pressure on the capital”. They are seeking to encircle Paris. The A64 highway, where the first blockage was organized at Carbonne, has reopened in both directions. The regional prefect Pierre-André Durand praised the “responsible spirit of the farmers” for cleaning up the occupied section of the highway.

The Coordination rurale of Lot-et-Garonne announced that they will “go up to Paris” to “block the Rungis market”. They plan to gather in tractors, saying they are not satisfied and want to block Rungis which “supplies the whole of France” so that “nothing comes out of it”. The president of the Occitanie region called for the establishment of a “regional committee to monitor the government’s commitments” relating to the situation of farmers, winegrowers, and fishermen in the region.

A march for the farmer and her daughter killed in an accident on a farmers’ roadblock is currently taking place. Young Farmers, who originally announced the mobilization in the capital next week, are now undecided. They plan to use the weekend to rest and recalibrate the mobilization for the following week. The blockage of the A64 in Haute-Garonne has been lifted after yielding “results”.

Thierry Marx, president of the UMIH and a star chef, expresses solidarity with the farming community but is concerned “if Paris is blocked”. At present, several roadblock protests are still ongoing in different locations across the country. The initiator of the farmers’ movement claims to have been heard, as the unions continue the movement. The Minister of Agriculture has announced that additional measures are planned for the coming week. The blockage of Paris and its outskirts will be organized from the night of Sunday to Monday. The FNSEA Ile-de-France has called for a pause in the movement for this weekend.