Several agricultural unions announce mobilizations in Albi. Monday, November 17, it is the FDSEA and the Young Farmers who will organize screening actions and processions at different points on the outskirts and in the city center. Blockage, disrupted traffic: what should you expect?
Ten months after a large-scale mobilization which notably led to the blocking of the RN88 at Portes d'Albi for more than a week, farmers will take to the streets again starting tomorrow, Monday, November 17. One of the reasons for this agricultural anger, the first day of the G20 summit in Brazil, with the potential signing of a free trade treaty between the EU and Mercosur. For farmers, the agreement as envisaged constitutes unfair competition due to differences in production standards and production costs to the detriment of French and European farmers.
All agricultural unions (Confédération Paysanne du Tarn, Coordination Rurale du Tarn and FDSEA and Young Farmers) have been mobilizing for several weeks. Friday, a first action was carried out in Castres, Mélou zone, by the Confédération Paysanne. Around forty farmers carried out towing work on a roundabout in the commercial zone.
Actions from midday in Lescure d’Albigeois
Monday, November 17, it is the FDSEA and the Young Farmers of Tarn who have planned an action which should last all afternoon on the outskirts of Albi and in the city center.
According to information from the two unions, the first meeting is scheduled for the very beginning of the afternoon between the Gaillaguès roundabout and the Arquipeyre roundabout, in the town of Lescure d'Albigeois. Farmers will carry out a filtering action on site. Contacted, co-president Marie-Line Bruel explains, however, that the goal “is not to block traffic” but to organize a filter barrier which will target trucks and their loads. “This is an unprecedented action in the Tarn” explains Marie-Line Bruel. The tractors will be parked on the service roads and not on the RN88 or on the roundabouts and a meal should be prepared on site while all the farmers regroup and during the heavy goods vehicle control action.
This first sequence should cause disruptions to traffic on the RN88 and the ring road in both directions, around the Pop'A commercial area of Lescure d'Albigeois until mid-afternoon, and potentially until early evening.
The transport network of the Albigeois Urban Community also announces disruptions in the service of this first sector: “ Monday November 18, access to the Portes de Lescure stop will be blocked from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Lines A and B will be diverted depending on the progress of farmers. Please refer to the La Drêche stop” explains Libé'A.
Second phase of actions in downtown Albi
In the middle of the afternoon, a procession should take over the city center, for a mobilization in front of the Prefecture and towards the administrative city, where the services of the Departmental Directorate of Territories of the French Biodiversity Office are located. (the organization is responsible for controls on farms) and the French Payment Agency (the agency manages the files and the payment of aid). Farmers have also planned actions before the general directorate of public finances. Traffic will be diverted depending on the progress of the processions in the city center. Friday, the Tarn National Police announced on its Facebook page that significant disruptions were expected, inviting motorists “as far as possible to adapt [ses] travel“. For its part, the Libé'A transport network announces that from 4 p.m., all lines will be diverted to avoid the city center. “Peri-urban lines as well as city center shuttles will also be severely disrupted” can we read on the Libé'A website.
Disturbances expected at the end of the afternoon at the Sequester
Third step identified in this large-scale mobilization of the FDSEA and Young Farmers, the tractors should move (it is not excluded that some will remain in the city center) towards the Sequester, around 5 p.m. for a filtering operation on the roundabouts which provide access to the Portes d'Albi commercial area. “ From 5 p.m., access to the Portes d’Albi stop will become very difficult due to the blockage of the roundabouts at Séquestre” Libé'A announces to its users. It is undoubtedly during this third phase that the disruptions will be the most significant, when it is time to leave the offices. Traffic will be very disrupted in the area but also on many other routes. In fact, farmers and their tractors will then have to gradually leave the prefectural town to return to their farms until the early evening. It will therefore be necessary to be patient, and if possible avoid the sectors of this day of mobilization.
“Today we bring the straw. If nothing progresses for the agricultural world, then we will bring the fire”
The FDSEA and the Young Farmers announce actions with respect for property and people. However, there should be spills of straw “We are being put on the hook. Today we bring the straw. If nothing progresses for the agricultural world, then we will bring the fire” announces the co-president of the FNSEA. “Many farmers are determined because since the previous mobilization, many announcements have not been followed up or are slow to be implemented. It is not normal for some farmers to wait a year and a half before receiving the balance of the aid allocated”.
For the moment, FDSEA and JA are not considering long-term action. “There is still a lot of work on the farms and we need to put pressure on the opening of the G20”. But there is no doubt that farmers will be ready to mobilize again in the weeks to come. “Nothing is excluded” said Arnaud Lemoine, the president of the FNSEA, Sunday November 17, on BFMTV.
Tuesday, November 19, it was the farmers of the Tarn Rural Coordination who announced a mobilization in the city center, between the Prefecture and Place du Vigan. The procession is scheduled to leave around 1 p.m. from the Innoprod zone, route de Fréjairolles. The disruptions were therefore expected to be equally significant both on the outskirts and in the city center of Albi.
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