(Paris) French President Emmanuel Macron was booed on Saturday at the opening of the Agricultural Show, a major political and professional meeting disrupted this year by the anger of the agricultural world which has not abated for several weeks.
It is protected by dozens of CRS equipped with shields, but not sheltered from the whistles and insults of hundreds of ulcerated farmers that the Head of State wandered among the stands of the show, whose inauguration was was delayed by clashes between farmers and the police and unprecedented chaos in the morning.
“Macron resignation”, “scum”, AFP journalists heard in particular when the president officially cut the ribbon, four and a half hours late, at the start of the afternoon. The largest agricultural show in France runs until March 3, with 600,000 visitors expected.
Tasting honey here, cheese there, shaking hands and responding to questions, Mr. Macron walked through the aisles, looking almost imperturbable, but his voice was regularly drowned out by the din caused by farmers contesting his presence and requesters. concrete actions to improve their conditions.
On several occasions, the CRS pushed the demonstrators back about fifty meters from him, while cries of “liar” or “Get out!” “.
Three people were arrested for violence against a person holding public authority, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Released, they will be summoned later.
“He’s familiar”
The president, arriving at 8 a.m., began the day with a meeting with union leaders. In a secure room, he collected the grievances of farmers from three trade union organizations, the FNSEA, Young Farmers and Rural Coordination.
“I always prefer dialogue to confrontation,” asserted the Head of State, who had initially imagined “a big debate” with all the players in the agricultural economy, manufacturers, distributors, NGOs, ultimately untenable due to the fury of agricultural unions aroused by the invitation of a radical environmentalist collective.
REUTERS PHOTO
“Macron resigns! », “the hunt for Macron is on! “, ” where is he ? » shouted some farmers.
“The French firm remains strong, it is wrong to say that it is falling apart,” said Mr. Macron.
“We are in the process of making all the simplifications,” he also promised, while operators complain of an excess of administrative and environmental constraints.
“As long as this is not made a reality in the farmyards, we will be on your back,” replied a farmer.
“Did you listen to it?” He doesn’t let the farmers talk, he cuts them off, he speaks informally… We’re not friends, that’s not possible. We want him to leave,” commented a farmer from Oise, Eric Labarre, FNSEA member, to AFP.
The clashes occurred when he arrived at the pavilion where cows, sheep and goats are exhibited. Hundreds of people forced the gates around 8 a.m. local time and entered, opposing the security service and the police.
The doors of this hall, the most popular, were alternately opened and closed to the public, illustrating the general confusion, and giving rise to astonishing scenes of children tasting cheese a few meters from helmeted riot police. And quite a bit of disappointment: “There were CRS everywhere. “Atmosphere of a besieged fortress,” laments Sophie Sucurovski, 28, who came from the Ardennes with her two-year-old son.
Calm then returned, but the stand of Lactalis, the world number one in dairy products accused of paying poorly for milk, was soiled by slurry.
Floor price
REUTERS PHOTO
The French president in lively discussion with a farmer.
Mr. Macron made several announcements to the unions which remain to be specified, including the creation of a “floor price” to better remunerate farmers and a census of farms requiring emergency cash flow aid.
“Putting the word out on the concept of floor prices is already a small revolution,” greeted AFP the spokesperson for the Confédération paysanne, a union opposed to intensive agriculture, Laurence Marandola.
French presidents typically spend hours, if not the entire day, at the Salon, and incidents are not unusual.
Nicolas Sarkozy had said “Get out of it, then, poor bastard!” » in 2008 to a man who refused to shake his hand. François Hollande was booed and insulted by breeders in 2016.
The crisis, which had been brewing since the fall, exploded on January 18, leading to two weeks of highway blockades, finally lifted on January 1.er FEBRUARY.