The National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA) and the Young Farmers plan to establish eight blocking points on important highways near Paris this Monday, January 29, while 15,000 members of the Armed Forces are expected to be mobilized, especially around the market of Rungis and the Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris.
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Towards a turning point in mobilization? With angry farmers determined to block the main access roads to Paris and other large agglomerations, and a government mobilizing 15,000 members of law enforcement, the risk of increased tensions looms this Monday, January 29, over the movement of farmers.
Starting at 2 p.m. (local time), the FNSEA and the Young Farmers (JA) of the Paris metropolitan region have planned eight “blocking points” on important highways a few or several kilometers from the perimeter, but with the slogan of a “siege” of the capital, without a time limit.
These points include the Chennevières area (A1), Jossigny (A4), Ourdy (A5), Villabé (A6), the Buchelay toll (A13), Longivilliers (A10), between the Gennevilliers bridge and the D311 (A15) , and at the D301 interchange of Isle-Adam (A16), the FRSEA of Île-de-France informed AFP on Sunday night.
Around Lyon, mobilization is expected to begin early on Monday, according to the Rhône prefecture, which mentioned a snail operation coming from the Lyonnais mountains followed by blockades on motorways. The local branches of the FNSEA and the JAs promised “branches throughout the region.”
For its part, the Government announced that 15,000 members of law enforcement would be mobilized on Monday to especially prevent tractors from entering “Paris and the big cities.”
“Securing” the Rungis market and Parisian airports
After an inter-ministerial crisis meeting, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, also assured that he demanded “moderation” from the Armed Forces, who should not “intervene in the blocking points” but rather “secure them.”
He explained that President Emmanuel Macron had given “instructions” to “ensure that the tractors do not reach Paris and large cities so as not to create extremely serious difficulties”, and also to ensure that the international Rungis market “can function, as well as the Parisian airports of Orly and Roissy”.
Since the beginning of the afternoon, troops, including armored gendarmerie vehicles, were deployed in the vicinity of Rungis, south of the capital, according to an AFP journalist. This market is the largest distribution center for fresh products in the world.
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Back on the ground on Sunday morning, the prime minister promised to “move quickly” to respond to farmers' discontent.
But the president of the FNSEA, France's main agricultural union, urged the government to “go much further” and criticized the prime minister's communications strategy. “We do not live well with what happened last week: the communication, the cameras, the bale of straw and all that, it is not our thing. What we need are decisions that we feel change the approach,” Arnaud Rousseau said on Sunday in front of farmers blocking the A16 motorway near Beauvais.
“As long as these demands are not satisfied, the mobilization will be total”
Despite relative calm, numerous road links remained closed on Sunday, from Normandy to Gard, via the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Meuse.
The FDSEA of regions bordering Île-de-France announced the participation of their members in the blockades in the Paris region with relays.
According to Arnaud Rousseau, the sequence that opens is a “week of all dangers, either because the Government does not listen to us, or because the anger will be such that then each one will assume their responsibilities.” But he also called for “calm and determination.”
For his part, Attal acknowledged that “through these first measures – announced on Friday – we have not yet responded to everything I just mentioned and which constitutes the discomfort and discomfort of our farmers today.” “And I am determined to move forward, to move forward decisively, to move forward quickly,” declared the prime minister in La Riche, a city in the central region of Indre-et-Loire.
“We must go much further,” Rousseau responded to the prime minister. The leader of the FNSEA presented dozens of complaints to the Government on Wednesday. “As long as these demands are not satisfied, the mobilization will be total,” he concluded.
🔴Mouvement des agriculteurs
🗣️”Ce qui a été dit ce soir ne calme pas la colère. Il faut aller plus loin”, insists the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau. pic.twitter.com/Pd1lwHV3Oa— TF1Info (@TF1Info) January 26, 2024
Attal revealed on Friday emergency measures, including the suspension of the increase in the tax on agricultural diesel (GNR), greater compensation for farmers whose cattle have been affected by the epizootic hemorrhagic disease, severe sanctions against three agri-food industrialists who They do not respect Egalim laws on prices.
With AFP
This article was adapted from its French original.
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