French farmers blockade Paris by blocking highways

Farmers in France blocked highways, surrounding and isolating Paris in protest against the government’s agricultural policies and environmental regulations. Protesting farmers escalated pressure on the government by closing highways around the capital to realize their demands. They blocked roads at eight points around Paris, including A10, A13, A4, and A6, using tractors and setting up barricades with hay bales. Banners on tractors read messages such as “Angry farmer,” “I used to dream when I was young, today I’m dying,” and “We won’t die in silence.” A participating farmer expressed, “This is the final battle for farming. It’s a matter of survival.”

The government deployed 15,000 police and gendarmes in response to the farmers’ protest. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called for restraint from security forces and warned farmers not to interfere with strategic points. He stated, “We will not allow damage to government buildings, tax offices, supermarkets, or the halting of trucks carrying foreign products.” Darmanin announced the deployment of armored police vehicles to specific locations like Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris and the Rungis international wholesale food market in the city’s south to prevent protester intervention.

In Belgium, farmers also took to the streets, closing highways in the southern part of the country and parking their tractors near the European Parliament in Brussels.

Despite the French government’s announcement of phasing out gradual state support for diesel and simplifying policies, farmers continue to oppose pesticide and herbicide bans outlined in the European Union’s (EU) Green Deal. They also resist a new EU agreement allowing increased beef imports from Brazil and Argentina, citing difficulties competing with these countries due to lax animal welfare rules. Farmers express being caught between environmental regulations and unfair competition amid rising production costs, stating that contradictory policies aim to both increase food production and reduce agriculture’s impact on the environment.