Agricultural anger: in Occitania, demonstrators opted for a first round of warning

They had warned: they do not intend to block everything. At least not immediately. Perhaps to prevent their movement from immediately falling into unpopularity.

As announced by the two majority unions, FNSEA and Jeux agricole, the farmers returned to the streets this Monday, but have – for the moment – ​​preferred to carry out relatively calm actions, despite the fire smoldering on the farms. In Nîmes, where they had set up under the A9 bridges in January blocking the highway for eight days, the demonstrators were thus “content” with filtering operations in the Saint-Césaire district, one from the city's entrance gates, where they checked the contents of trucks. A “nice” operation, carried out at nightfall, which made it possible, thanks to a large emergency fire lit in front of the Auchan supply platform, to display their presence. “We received an aspirin pill.” as a response to the first movement, estimates Frédéric Cavagna, secretary general of the FDSEA du Gard. Now, he warns, he and his colleagues want “deeds” to respond to all the ills affecting the profession, starting with a lack of fair remuneration for their work and standards that strangle them.

In Montpellier, it was in the morning that the hundred demonstrators wandered, from the prefecture where they symbolically hung entry and exit signs from different municipalities on the gates, to the Hôtel de Région where they poured a little of manure. At the prefect, who came to meet them, the FDSEA and JA activists reiterated their anger. “The situation is even worse than last year. 70% of wine farms in Hérault have been losing money since the start of the crisis in 2019. In other sectors, half of the operators do not even emerge a single minimum wage”alerted the secretary general of the FDSEA Cédric Saur. Rémi Dumas, from JA, added, courteous but firm: “Agricultural unhappiness is profound. So why sacrifice ourselves to import shit?“.

An SOS seen from the sky

This proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and South America, the famous Mercosur, the detonator of this new agricultural movement, was at the heart of all the speeches this Monday. In Espalion, in Aveyron “where the anger never stopped”the banners installed on the roundabout carried the same message. “Standards are imposed on us to be greener than green, while on the other hand, we are ready to import thousands of animals stuffed with antibiotics and raised without concern for well-being,” fumes Clémence Bernié, vice-president of the JA of Aveyron, next to a burning can.

At the other end of the department, in Millau, tractors formed an SOS in a field at nightfall. In both cases, without imposing a traffic blockade, a modus operandi seen almost everywhere in the region, notably in Lozère where, as in Montpellier, the demonstrators were able to communicate with the prefect. In Aude, it was at 7 p.m. that the demonstrators found themselves on a roundabout considered strategic in Castelnaudary. In total, more than 80 actions took place during the day in France, some more important than others. In Avignon, from early on, farmers blocked the essential Europe Bridge which brings from Gard to Vaucluse before symbolically planting vines torn from their land at the foot of the ramparts.

“Coordination” at the border

A first round of this Act II as a warm-up. Or warning. Because the actions could gain momentum quickly… and even as early as this Tuesday with the entry on the scene of another agricultural union, the Rural Coordination. The regional president, Lionel Candelon, already warns: “We are going to set up in front of the prefectures for a period of 24 to 48 hours, before blocking purchasing centers, freight transport locations or the Spanish border.”

A major mobilization is thus promised at the Boulou toll, on the A9, to prevent trucks from importing products which are not constrained by the same standards as in France. “We want to be able to fight with the same weapons. We must protect our agriculture which has been dying for 40 years”scolds Lionel Candelon. Who adds: “We have nothing left to lose, whether with or without Mercorsur. The promises at the start of the year were bullshit, so this mobilization will rise to a crescendo“, he said. How far? “I don’t know. We’re at the end of our rope, there have been two more suicides since this summer”says the regional leader of the “Coordination”, who has been demanding larger troops since the actions at the start of the year. Above all, more uplifts. “If necessary, it will last until January.”