Anger of farmers: “We want to put pressure until the end”, say Young Farmers from Tarn-et-Garonne who blocked a logistics base

On departmental road 820, which links Montauban to Toulouse, dozens of heavy goods vehicles are parked on the side of the road, Thursday November 21, 2024. The emergency lane of this very busy route in Tarn-et-Garonne makes acts as a refuge for the many truck drivers who cannot continue their work until the end.

Because many of them wanted to reach the Intermarché base, in the Montbartier logistics zone, a few kilometers south of the town of Ingres. A strategic point which makes it possible to supply the shelves of the Mousquetaires brand throughout Tarn-et-Garonne and even beyond.

“The fire of anger is no longer enough”

“Our goal is clearly to prevent access to heavy goods vehicles while waiting to hear from the prefecture,” says Marc, co-president of the Young Farmers union in the canton of Beaumont-de-Lomagne, about forty kilometers from their place of action for the day. “The fire of anger is no longer enough today. We have decided to take action and this is happening day by day,” he continues.

Because this is the specificity of this “punching” action. The demonstrators do not stay in their zone of “influence”. They want to express general fed up and do not hesitate to leave their homes.

“The logistics zone is a strategic point”

“The Montbartier logistics zone is a strategic point, continues the second co-president, Damien. It is the base closest to us, it is where the chartering of stores is done. We know that the departments are starting to become empty. That's when the population will realize that it's because of the farmers that the shelves are empty and that the plates too.”

About once an hour, a detonation similar to an agricultural bomb rings out. The deafening noise disturbs the tranquility of the fire which was lit a few hectometers south of the A 62 motorway and which is fueled by tractor tires which burn regularly, somewhat disturbing the good vision of motorists who pass by. .

Garlic peels on the road

Besides this fire, a clue betrays the origin of the mobilized farmers. Garlic peels, one of the treasures of Lomagne, were dropped on the right lane of the blocked Avenue des Graves. As the gusts of wind sweep across the demonstration site, rubbish flies onto the traffic lanes left empty by the tractors before the eyes of the farmers.

Wrapped in their thick coats, the angry peasants discuss their daily difficulties, the expectations they have from these demonstrations, and their weariness, too, of having to make themselves heard through forceful means. But their determination is intact.

“If we have to toughen up the movement, we will toughen it”

“The idea is to put the pressure on until the end,” proclaims Damien, the co-president of the Young Farmers of the canton of Beaumont-de-Lomagne. Last year, in January, we gave up after a few weeks Here, we are well aware that we are not going to come back ten times. The goal is to block it because we can no longer have announcements that are not acted upon. harden it movement, we will harden it.”

Unlike the action of the Lot-et-Garonne Rural Coordination (CR 47), which had been dislodged by an intervention by the CRS, the blocking of the logistics zone by the FDSEA and the JA of Tarn-et-Garonne is monitored, without additional action, by a Tarn-et-Garonnaise gendarmerie patrol. Around 6 p.m., finally, the axis was freed.