At least 66 folks had been arrested on Friday at a farmers’ protest on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris that blocked site visitors in the course of the morning rush hour, French police stated.
Using tractors and bales of hay, farmers briefly introduced site visitors to a halt on the famed avenue close to the Arc de Triomphe monument, solely a brief distance from President Emmanuel Macron’s workplace, the Elysee.
The protesters, who held up banners on the avenue, stated their motion was aimed “at saving French agriculture.”
Farmers throughout Europe have been protesting for weeks over what they are saying are excessively restrictive environmental guidelines, competitors from low-cost imports from exterior the European Union and low incomes.
Farmer Axel Masson stated about 100 of his friends had gathered on the arterial roundabout from 3 a.m. (2 a.m. GMT) “in a peaceful and law-abiding manner.”
Some protesters handed out luggage of potatoes to motorists caught in crawling site visitors across the Arc de Triomphe, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporters on the scene stated.
Several had been seen chatting with cops earlier than the arrests.
“The Rural Coordination takes over the Arc de Triomphe symbolically and peacefully,” the farmers’ union stated earlier in an announcement on social media platform X, including that it was a cry to “save” agriculture in France.
It stated it “wants quick action to save 45% of our farms which are in financial distress.”
Masson stated the farmers laid a wreath in reminiscence of their colleagues who had been pushed to suicide by monetary woes, including: “The state has never heard us.”
French farmers have continued to dam roads, set hearth to tires and lay siege to supermarkets, saying they want extra measures, even after the federal government promised reforms.
Source: www.dailysabah.com