Angry farmers demonstrated in Paris with their tractors, calling for more government support and simpler regulations, on the eve of a major agricultural fair in the French capital.
Dozens of tractors drove peacefully into a neighborhood in western Paris carrying flags from Rural Coordination, the farmers’ union that staged the protest.
“Save our agriculture,” Rural Coordination said on X, formerly Twitter. One tractor was carrying a poster reading: “Death is in the field”.
The angry protests came after the government offered over €400 million ($433 million) to address their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation, and what they describe as unfair competition from abroad.
The convoy temporarily slowed traffic on the A4 highway, east of the capital, and on the Paris Ring road earlier on Friday morning.
French farmers’ actions are part of a broader protest movement in Europe against EU agriculture policies, bureaucracy, and overall business conditions.
Farmers complain that the 27-nation bloc’s environmental policies, such as the Green Deal, which calls for limits on the use of chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions, limit their business and make their products more expensive than non-EU imports.
Other protests are being staged across France as farmers seek to put pressure on the government to implement its promises.
