On Sunday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered a large-scale police deployment to “prevent any blockade”, by stopping convoys of trucks and tractors heading towards the capital Paris, airports or central markets.
Farmers plan to cut off Paris from the rest of the country by blocking key transport routes leading to the French capital. Photo: PA
Across France, farmers have used tractors and trucks to block roads and cause traffic jams. They plan to step up their pressure campaign by setting up eight roadblocks along major routes leading to Paris on Monday afternoon.
The French government plans to mobilise 15,000 police and paramilitary gendarmes in response, but security forces have been told to show "moderation".
Interior Minister Darmanin said President Emmanuel Macron had ordered security operations to ensure both Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in the north and Orly in the south of the capital remained open, while the Rungis international wholesale food market in southern Paris continued to operate.
Police and gendarmes have also been ordered to prevent any incursions into Paris itself, Mr Darmanin said.
Map of eight barricades that protesting farmers plan to erect around Paris. Graphic photo: AFP/France24
Farmers from the Lot-et-Garon region had previously announced their intention to cut off the Rungis International Market, which supplies much of the fresh produce to Paris and the surrounding area.
French farmers are protesting a range of policies, including cuts to fuel tax subsidies and what they say are unfair EU competition practices that lead to cheap imports.
France's new prime minister , Gabriel Attal, has made a number of concessions that farmers say are not enough. On Friday, he promised to phase out fuel taxes and "significantly simplify" paperwork where possible.
For days now, French farmers have been using tractors to block traffic across the country and dumping large amounts of stinking manure in front of government buildings.
Mai Van (according to DW, AP)
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