Par
Marie Lamarque
Published on
Nov. 22 2024 at 9:58 am
; updated Nov. 22, 2024 at 7:52 p.m.
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New day of mobilization for farmers around Toulouse this Friday, November 22, 2024. Rural Coordination, the 3rd agricultural union, had notably announced a blocking action in Colomiers, at the Carrefour purchasing center. A look back at a day that you were able to follow live on Toulouse News.
7:17 p.m. – The police unblocked the purchasing center
According to Rural Coordination, “three armored vehicles and fifteen CRS vans” intervened to dislodge the farmers who were blocking the Carrefour purchasing center in Colomiers this Friday.
“In ten minutes, everything was clear. No discussion, no dialogue possible.” According to Rural Coordination 12, “France seems to have turned its back on its farmers. Those who feed it are despised, sacrificed on the altar of a globalized and blind economy.”
3:09 p.m. – The first trucks blocked
Coming to supply the purchasing center, the first trucks faced a blockage.
3:07 p.m. – A blocking of the purchasing center over several days
To “starve Toulouse” and “empty the shelves”, the demonstrators explain that they want to block the Colomiers purchasing center at least throughout the weekend, or even until the beginning of next week.
A rotation system will be put in place with the other departmental branches of Rural Coordination. Farmers from Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne and even Gers must come in support. The CR 82 should notably go, by tractor, to the site this Friday evening, around 6 p.m.
2:54 p.m. – Around fifteen tractors on site
On site, our journalist observed that access to the Carrefour purchasing center was blocked using tires. No trucks can go out.
Around fifteen tractors and around forty demonstrators are on the scene.
2:45 p.m. – “No unfair competition”
In the sights of farmers gathered in Colomiers, the ongoing discussions around the free trade treaty between the European Union and Mercosur.
“We want leaders to stop introducing Mercosur products, to think more about us. We respect standards, we don't want unfair competition. We must lock the market, or change the standards. Many politicians are against this treaty and we have managed to change the opinion of parliamentarians,” continues Eloi Nespoulos.
2:40 p.m. – “Let Toulouse know what it’s like to have empty shelves”
“We went to Aldi in Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe (Tarn) yesterday and today. We're hitting even bigger by coming to the Colomiers purchasing center this afternoon, underlines Eloi Nespoulousco-president of Rural Coordination 12. We came to block the freight so that Toulouse knows what it's like to have empty shelves in supermarkets.
Determined, the Aveyron farmer continues: “we have to understand that we are disappearing little by little. We come from a small territory, but our impact is big. Today, in mass distribution, everything is done to drown out the consumer about the origin of the products.”
2:16 p.m. – The blocking of the Carrefour purchasing center begins
The convoy of tractors arrived at the Carrefour purchasing center. The blockage has started.
1:26 p.m. – Tractors on the Toulouse ring road
The convoy of farmers from Tarn is currently taking the Toulouse ring road, heading towards Colomiers where they want to block the Carrefour purchasing center.
12:55 p.m. – Farmers head towards Toulouse
The authorities' blockade has been lifted. Farmers are now driving on the A 68 motorway towards Toulouse. A slowdown of more than 2 km was recorded at Montastruc-la-Conseillère.
The gendarmes escort this procession.
11:50 a.m. – Farmers blocked at the gates of Toulouse
Contacted by Toulouse NewsEloi Nespoulous, co-president of rural coordination in Aveyron, indicates that one of the convoys of farmers who were to carry out the action on the site of the Carrefour purchasing center in Colomiers is blocked.
The twenty tractors and twenty farmers' vehicles are blocked by the gendarmes at the Saint-Sulpice interchange in Tarn, north-east of Toulouse.
Eloi Nespoulous explained:
“We are blocked by the Tarn prefecture. We want to take the highway, but the prefecture wants to direct us in another direction. We are negotiating to be able to pass.”
11:15 a.m. – Farmers from Tarn and Aveyron northeast of Toulouse
This Thursday, and during the night from Thursday to Friday, farmers from Tarn and Aveyron blocked the Aldi purchasing center located in Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe, in Tarn.
“Around forty tractors and trailers, loaded with straw and tires, were mobilized to block access to the logistics platform, through which around 60 trucks pass per day. During the operation, around fifteen trucks were opened, revealing their cargo: French meat, but also a large quantity of dairy products of European origin, as well as lamb meat from New York. Zeeland. An unfortunately recurring observation,” explained the farmers of the Tarn rural coordination.
Farmers set up a shelter using straw bales and tarpaulins on site. Last stop before Toulouse.
11 a.m. – Other actions from the FNSEA for next week
For its part, the FNSEA has announced new actions, throughout France, from next week, on Tuesday 26, Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 November. “We decided last night that starting next week, […] at the initiative of the departments, we will once again be on the ground with the Young Farmers to denounce the obstacles to agriculture and everything that today constrains our activity,” declared Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA.
9:45 a.m. – Farmers displaced at the Spanish border
In action since last Wednesday in Fos, at the Spanish border, to block the entry of trucks, the farmers of Rural Coordination 31 explain that they were dislodged on the evening of Thursday, November 21.
According to the union, “more than 300 trucks» could have been arrested. “We were dislodged because the pressure was starting to build. This proves that we inconvenienced a lot of people,” we can read on the CR 31 Facebook page.
9:40 a.m. – What the farmers are demanding
The anger of the farmers does not abate. In connection with the debates taking place within the European Union concerning the free trade treaty with Mercosur, land professionals, who are strongly opposed to it, want to make their voices heard.
They also make other demands: a decent minimum income, a reduction in charges and the alignment of standards on a European scale.
9:24 a.m. – Actions planned for this Friday
Rural Coordination announces the continuation of the mobilization in Haute-Garonne, and in particular near Toulouse. This Friday, November 22, an action is planned in Colomiers, at the Carrefour purchasing center.
At the same time, other movements are expected to continue, notably the blockage on the Aldi platform in Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe, on the border between Haute-Garonne and Tarn.
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