Sixty-six people were arrested Friday morning in Paris after farmers unexpectedly blocked the Arc de Triomphe, briefly blocking traffic with straw bales and tractors, police in the French capital said.
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“We went up this morning to lay a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe to pay tribute to all the farmers who commit suicide,” said Axel Masson, breeder in Loir-et-Cher (center).
“We are still not heard by the State,” he added, while the anger of the agricultural world, felt throughout Europe, strongly disrupted the visit of President Emmanuel Macron to their annual show in Paris last Saturday.
Shortly after 7 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT), police cars were positioned at the foot of the monument and traffic at the top of the famous avenue was still blocked. Started at dawn, the demonstration at the foot of the Arc ended around 9:40 a.m. local time, according to an AFP journalist.
Other actions took place elsewhere near Paris: four tractors blocked an exit from the ring road and others were positioned at another access to this boulevard surrounding the capital, according to the police.
“A convoy of tractors is on its way to the Palace of Versailles”, a few dozen kilometers from Paris, where they will be awaited by a police force, the same source added.
The Arc de Triomphe is a place of commemoration of soldiers who died in combat for France where a flame is rekindled daily and where foreign heads of state are often invited during their visit to the capital.
In 2018, the monument was the scene of violence during the “Yellow Vests” social crisis.
“Financial distress »
Among the 66 people arrested is Patrick Legras, a manager of Rural Coordination, the 2nd French agricultural union, accustomed to muscular actions and at the origin of this action.
The union, particularly angry against free trade agreements, announced on X that it was mobilized “to save French agriculture” before the last weekend of the Agricultural Show. “Rural Coordination symbolically and peacefully takes the Star,” he also wrote, asking for “quick action to save our 45% of farms in financial distress.”
While they were initially supposed to go to the Palace of Versailles in an authorized demonstration, “the farmers made this detour to go to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” says Christian Convers, secretary general of Rural Coordination, contacted by AFP . But “they did not have time to go much further since the police immediately intervened and the discussion was cut short.”
Faced with agricultural anger, which has been strong for several weeks, the executive is striving to respond to farmers who are demonstrating to obtain a better income and fewer administrative and environmental constraints, at the cost of concessions on pesticides, in particular. Arc de Triomphe, which was the scene of violence during the “Yellow Vest” crisis in 2018.
Rural Coordination, the 2nd French agricultural union, is known for being a vehement voice of peasant anger. Born in 1991 from a split with the majority union FNSEA, it is a critic of free trade agreements and accustomed to muscular actions.
“For the moment there is no result for the future. The show went quite well, but if it continues like this, the anger will not stop,” warns Mr. Convers.