Farmer Revolution: Blockade of Paris Announced as Farmers Reject Government’s ‘Concessions’
Calls for revolution are in the air of France once again as farmers have vowed to continue their tractor protests against the globalist green agenda with a planned blockade of Paris after rejecting “concessions” from the government.
After a week of shutting down motorways across the country, forcing politicians of all stripes to come to meet them on their turf, the farmer uprising is set to descend upon the French capital as they were unimpressed by the compromises proposed by newly-installed Prime Minister Gabriel Attall.
With their demands not being met, farmers have decided to ramp up the pressure on the metropolitan liberal elites who vote for green agenda policies without feeling the consequences and allowing the rural population to suffer.
What is being dubbed as the “siege of Paris”, farmers are planning on shutting down at least seven critical entry points to the city and have hinted at enacting a blockade of the Rungis Market, the second largest wholesale food market in the world which serves as the main hub for food deliveries into Paris.
“The idea is that there are no trucks that can serve the capital, to ensure that no product enters Paris, to make Parisians understand that they need farmers to live. I say to our friends in the capital region: it’s going to be a long week,” the head of the Young Farmers Union Maxime Buizard said per Le Figaro.
France’s interior ministry said it will deploy a large number of security forces around Paris.
#Rungis sous haute protection : tout les camions sont contrôlés par un barrage de gendarmes.
Des #AgriculteurEnColere ont annoncé voir bloquer le MIN. pic.twitter.com/TItMpB5BWR
— Clément Lanot (@ClementLanot) January 28, 2024
The planned blockade of Paris comes as farmers groups have shot down a series of “concessions” offered up by Gabriel Attal, who became France’s youngest prime minister after being installed in the post by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month in an attempt to revive his fledgling government.
The neophyte PM offered to scrap some planned tax hikes on agricultural diesel, reduce regulations and unnecessary paperwork, and introduce new subsidies for organic farming and for bovine medical bills. Attal also said that the government would oppose the planned free trade deal between the European Union and the South American ‘Mercosur’ nations of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which farmers fear will further undercut prices of French agriculture.
Many of the 140 demands issued by the farmers were not addressed by Attal on Friday, with much of the green regulations being imposed on them by Brussels rather than Paris. However, the government of Emmanuel Macron has been a chief supporter of the green agenda at the EU, and therefore will have a difficult time trying to distance themselves from the implications of the climate alarmist regulations of the bloc.
The head of the nation’s largest farming union FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau immediately called for “continued mobilisation” after Attal announced his plans, adding: “What was said this evening doesn’t calm the anger, we need to go further”.
French Peasant Revolt: Nine in Ten Support Farmer Protests Against Globalist Government https://t.co/cINXr0IjEx
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 25, 2024
The failure to come to an agreement with the farmers has ramped up the political pressure on the government in Paris, with the leader of the centre-right Les Republicains party, Éric Ciotti calling for a “revolution” in how agriculture is done in France.
“It was Mr. Macron and his friends who decided to increase agricultural fuel,” Ciotti said. “The “Restoration of Nature” Law which provides for agricultural decline was supported in Brussels by Renaissance elected officials. Emmanuel Macron is an arsonist firefighter who started the fire himself.”
Ciotti called for a minimum salary for farmers of 1,500 euros, for the government to “remove crippling standards” on farming and to “put an end to free trade agreements which threaten agriculture”.
Trade has become a major issue for farmers across Europe over the past two years following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after which Brussels decided to open up tariff-free agricultural imports into its market from the former Soviet state, flooding markets with cheaper produce and undercutting local farmers.
Former presidential candidate and current leader of the National Rally (RN) in the French parliament, Marine Le Pen blamed “Macron’s Europe” for the current plight of the farmers, saying that the President’s representatives at the European Parliament backed “all of the free trade agreements”.
“How can they now declare that they want to fight against unfair competition?” the populist leader questioned while visiting farmers in Radinghem-en-Weppes.
They’ve been in power for seven years, how long are we supposed to act naive?”
French Farmers Vow to Continue Tractor Protests for ‘As Long As Necessary’https://t.co/P9dv8iFBxK
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 23, 2024
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