In Carcassonne, several tractors carrying branches, wood chips and other flammable materials stopped at the Georges Pompidou roundabout to burn everything as a sign of protest. In question, the signing of the Mercosur free trade treaty or the promises “partially kept” by the government following the strike movement last February.
As quickly arrived as quickly left. This Monday, November 18, at the beginning of the evening, users regularly taking the departmental road coming from the Pont Rouge activity zone in Carcassonne were surprised by the presence of several tractors transporting flammable materials and going to the Georges roundabout. Pompidou for a punchy action. The farmers' objective: to burn the shipments for five minutes before going to another site, all supervised by the police and firefighters. A few minutes earlier, they carried out the same operation in Pezens and Pennautier.
The first chapter of a week under the color of protest, notably due to the signing of the Mercosur free trade treaty. The latter aims to facilitate imports of agricultural products not subject to French standards or even to “partially kept promises” of the government following the first major mobilization last February.
If the farmers did not hang around on the scene, some of them agreed to give their testimony concerning a situation which they describe as being “unlivable”. This is particularly the case of a winegrower in Cabardes who, with his wife, has not received a salary for a year: “How is it possible that farmers can no longer live off the fruits of their labor? The Prime Minister said that if we blocked more than 24 hours or if we obstructed traffic, he would send the CRS. It is intolerable that in This country, we can't get by on a salary. Anger will rise to a crescendo.”
The feeling that predominates among the fifty-year-old is “fear”according to his own words. Fear that in the weeks to come “we are coming to a revolution”. He also points “the omnipresence of controls” : “At the end of the initial demonstration, we obtained nothing. The OFB (French Biodiversity Office, Editor’s note) comes to control us vehemently, we are not delinquents. If nothing is achieved, the anger will not diminish. If I have to die so that others can make a living from their profession, I will do it.”
