In France, protesting farmers have started blocking motorways heading to Paris with tractors, France 24 reports. The government’s initial concessions have not satisfied the farmers, who are stepping up the pressure and demanding more.
GAVIN LEE, France 24 anchor: Right now, farmers from across France are organizing a massive protest in the capital, which unions are calling a “siege of Paris”. Hundreds of tractor drivers and their tractors are expected to block all major roads and motorways into Paris and bring traffic to a halt. The protests continue despite promises from the French government to help with the many problems farmers are facing due to expensive diesel and bureaucracy following the introduction of a new eco-policy. Such problems are now facing most European countries.
Let’s head closer to Charles de Gaulle airport where our reporter Antonia Carrigen is. Good to get in touch with you, Antonia! Tell us what’s going on there.
ANTONIA CARRIGEN, correspondent for France 24: I am just a few kilometers north of Charles de Gaulle international airport, which is 25 kilometers north of the capital. The A1 motorway runs behind me and you see cars moving slowly on one side – it leads out of the capital – but no one on the other side – no cars going into Paris. The reason is that a few kilometers north of here, farmers have blocked the road. Seven more blockades around Paris will be organized today. About 6,000 tractors are expected to take part. It remains to be seen how much this will affect traffic in all directions.
As you said, the reasons they are here are the high cost of production, low wages and the increasing difficulty of meeting European regulations. Farmers believe that in other European countries the requirements are not so strict, and non-European countries certainly don’t need to follow them at all, even if we sometimes import their products. The continuation of the protests that started a week ago is intended to put pressure on the government. They have already received the first statements which have not satisfied them: they want to demand more.
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