Farmers’ Protests: Paris Under Siege

After the snow, Parisians are facing a new type of blockade. They woke up on the morning of January 8th to a strange atmosphere in the city, with around a hundred tractors placing the French capital under siege. Twenty or so are positioned at various strategic locations in the capital, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, while the rest are blocking the gates of Paris.

Despite a prefectural ban, around a hundred tractors, according to figures from the ministry of the interior, entered the city during the night, at the call of the Coordination Rurale. They drove through the night to reach Paris, taking secondary routes to avoid detection. 

The farmers plan to demonstrate with their vehicles in front of the National Assembly to make their demands heard: “This is the first time we’ve come to demonstrate in Paris … we’re not going to move because we need to make ourselves heard. We can no longer make a living from our work. We are overwhelmed by regulations and administration, which take up more of our time than the work we do on our farms. Everyone is fed up,” two farmers from the Sarthe region told Le Parisien.

Police roadblocks had been set up a few hours earlier to prevent the tractors from advancing, but they were forced through by the farmers, who took risks deemed “totally reckless” by the ministry. Many tractors are still blocked by the police on the roads of the Île-de-France region, waiting to join the march on Paris. 

“What is happening this morning is illegal,” said Maud Brégeon, the government spokeswoman, who announced that the interior ministry “will not allow this to happen.” Several union leaders have been taken into custody. 

The government’s firm stance has not gone down well with the angry farmers. “The spokeswoman’s comments are despicable. There are riots everywhere, where there is a great deal of tolerance. And today, it’s a flat refusal,” said Bertrand Venteau, president of Coordination Rurale, exasperated by the government’s double standards when it comes to maintaining order.

While Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard says she “understands the demands” of farmers, she is concerned about the physical pressure exerted by tractors on the capital. “You can protest, but you can’t block Paris, you can’t block Rungis, you can’t cause damage,” she said early this morning on France Info.

The transport minister, who also deplores the congestion in the Île-de-France region, which worsens the already bad traffic conditions caused by the recent bad weather, insists that “farmers are not the enemies of the country.” Nevertheless, calls for dialogue ring hollow for those who are confronted with police roadblocks. “When you have four tractors, there are 25 CRS [special mobile police force] officers,” Venteau said.

The pressure is mounting ahead of the signing of the Mercosur agreement, which is due to take place on Monday, January 12th. Italy, which had previously been in league with France, has changed its stance, believing it has obtained sufficient guarantees for its agriculture in the latest negotiations, making France’s position all the more fragile.

But for Annie Genevard, “as long as the fight is not over, it is not lost.” She believes that even if the council of heads of state votes in favour of the text, it can still be rejected by parliament—a highly unlikely prospect, but one that allows her to politically deflect the discontent of French farmers.

At the same time, in Germany, farmers are mobilising and also blocking motorways, as in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. In Dresden, farmers are planning to gather with their tractors for a large demonstration in front of the Frauenkirche, the city’s iconic monument. Although Saxony’s minister of agriculture also says he “understands” the farmers’ anger, he has no more alternatives to offer than his French counterpart.