PROTESTING FARMERS IN SOUTHWEST FRANCE SET BALES OF HAY ALIGHT IN FRONT OF PUBLIC BUILDING Farmers are demanding help from cheap imports
In the southwestern city of Agen, angry farmers set fire to bales of hay, old tyres and rubbish they had dumped in front of the wrought-iron gates of the prefecture, which represents the central state locally.
Protesting farmers also blocked several roads across France to press the government to loosen regulations and help protect them from cheap imports and rising costs.
Farmers said the protests, with long lines of tractors snarling roads, would continue as long as their demands are not met, posing the first major challenge for France’s new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
This shift in so far largely peaceful protests, which started last week, will be a challenge for a government which does not want to antagonise farmers but has also placed law-and-order as one of its top priorities.
Many farmers in the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer struggle financially and say their livelihoods are threatened as food retailers are increasing pressure to bring down prices after a period of high inflation.
Fearing a spillover from farmer unrest in Germany, Poland and Romania, the French government has already postponed a draft farming law meant to help more people become farmers, saying it will beef up the measures and ease some regulations.
The government will soon make proposals, its spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot said earlier in the day, without giving details.
President Emmanuel Macron is also wary of farmers’ growing support for the far right ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
