French farmers blockaded sites in Paris on Thursday in protest against a sweeping trade deal the European Union is poised to sign with South American nations and other local grievances, APA reports, citing France 24.
The farmers overran police checkpoints to enter the city, driving along the Champs-Élysées avenue and blocking the road around the Arc de Triomphe monument before dawn, while police surrounded them.
The rightwing Coordination Rural Union had called for protests in the capital amid anger against a free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American bloc Mercosur, which they fear may flood the country with cheap food imports, and the way the government is handling a cattle disease.
"We are between resentment and despair. We have a feeling of abandonment, like with Mercosur. We have been abandoned in favour of a space shuttle, an Airbus, or a car," Stéphane Pelletier, the deputy president of the union in Vienne, in central France, told Reuters.
The action drew a swift rebuke from the government, which warned it would "not stand by" and allow "illegal" actions.
Blocking a motorway or "attempting to gather in front of the National Assembly with all the symbolism that this entails is once again illegal", government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told France Info Radio.
The protest comes days after the European Commission proposed making 45 billion euros of EU funding available earlier to farmers and agreed to cut import duties on some fertilizers in a bid to win over countries wavering in their support of Mercosur.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
