Farmers disrupt traffic south of Lyon, while others try in vain to demonstrate in Paris but are blocked by the police. Follow the evolution of the situation live.
By tractor or car, farmers from the Rural Coordination (CR) tried in vain on Monday to gather in Paris, held back by the police, while the Minister of Agriculture warned that the capital should not not be blocked “on a back-to-school day”. Follow the evolution of the situation live.
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The main information to remember:
- Farmers from Rural Coordination tried to demonstrate in Paris this Monday
- Another convoy set up a snail operation south of Lyon
- There are around 200 farmers and 50 tractors throughout the territory.
A few dozen demonstrators in Paris
In the capital itself, a few dozen were present Monday morning, particularly from Marne and Aube, and tried to gather at the Trocadéro to reach the Arc de Triomphe. But controlled by the police, they did not succeed. Not far from Matignon, seven others accompanied by a goat were “evicted without incident”, according to a police source.
The authorities “never wanted to let us enter Paris. We asked for a base for a rally but we never obtained it”, declared to AFP the general secretary of the union Christian Convers, from the Trocadéro, refuting any “intention to block anything”.
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On the eve of the start of the electoral campaign for the chambers of agriculture, the “yellow hats” of the second agricultural union want to make their voice heard: against free trade agreements, against unfair competition, including intra -European and against controls on farms.
In Yvelines, around ten tractors and around fifteen cars forced their way and entered the national road N10, before being blocked at Essarts-le-Roi, we learned from a police source .
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A dam forced by tractors in Essonne
In Essonne, a police roadblock was forced by six tractors, which were subsequently intercepted. Farmers were authorized, in a tense climate, to reach with their 21 tractors the site of a Téréos sugar factory located in Artenay in the Loiret; those in personal vehicles have agreed to give up Paris and will leave in three supervised convoys, according to a police source.
In Seine-et-Marne, two small convoys were also contained by the police, from the same source.
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Traffic disrupted south of Lyon
A convoy of farmers, supported by Rural Coordination, disrupted traffic south of Lyon on Monday with a snail operation intended to express their discontent, and before the elections to the chambers of agriculture where the union hopes to gain influence.
At midday, around twenty tractors were installed on the M7, the road which extends the A7 as it approaches Lyon, in the Marseille-Lyon direction. “A traffic lane is maintained,” specifies the Rhône prefecture in a message on X.
Leaving around 5 a.m. from Saint-Didier-sous-Riverie (Rhône), they went up the A450 at low speed before parking during rush hour at Oullins-Pierre-Bénite, near the interchange with the A7.
The procession, organized by the local association Agri Chabanière and supported by Rural Coordination, is opened by a tractor with a festive horn. Many vehicles display signs: “No talking, results”, “We have a lot”, “SOS”, or even “Our end will be your hunger”.
The prefecture demanded that demonstrators leave the right lane free for emergency and law enforcement vehicles. Despite interruptions, traffic was able to partially resume, on the lane(s) left free. The demonstrators spent a good part of the morning in the left lane of the A450 motorway.
“We are not here to annoy people either,” Serge Genevay, member of the Rural Coordination (CR) and president of CR69, told AFP. “We have had no response for a year from all the promises that were made,” he regretted. “All the farmers are fed up.”
Around noon, a banner was displayed at the entrance to a building of the National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) in Lyon where one could read: “Without phyto, no arboriculture”.
200 farmers and around fifty tractors throughout the territory
While saying she understood the “concern” of the operators, the Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard warned that there was no question of letting the capital be paralyzed. “No, we are not blocking, on a back-to-school day,” she warned, interviewed on TF1.
The minister mentioned a mobilization of 200 farmers and around fifty tractors throughout the territory.
Recalling that Prime Minister François Bayrou would receive the agricultural unions next Monday, she considered that “the urgency that they put forward to be received now, here immediately”, was not really justified.
On the ground, the demonstrators deplored being blocked simply because of “wearing a yellow hat” and said they were determined to move forward, while a ban on gatherings lasted until 12 p.m. Monday.
The president of the CR de l’Aube, Christophe Sichnknecht, highlighted the urgency of certain situations: “we need answers”. “Today is the wake-up call, we are capable of going wherever we want,” he assured.
Member of the union, Frédéric Bourbonneux, who cultivates 150 ha in Nogent-sur-Seine (Aube), says he lost 50% of his wheat yield this year. “Climate insurance barely compensates 10% (of losses), taxes and contributions have increased while the price of cereals fell on the markets, we cannot do it,” he says.
Farmers are protesting in particular against the signing of a free trade agreement between the EU and Latin American Mercosur countries.
On this subject, Emmanuel Macron assured Monday that the “mass was not said”. “We will continue to forcefully defend the coherence of our commitments,” he said.
Mobilization before professional elections
This mobilization comes before the professional elections, organized from January 15 to 31, which will determine the new balance of power between agricultural unions: the CR, which has gained visibility thanks to punchy actions since last winter, hopes stealing around fifteen rooms from the hegemonic FNSEA-Young Farmers alliance.
