Hours after climate activists threw soup at… Mona LisaThe French Interior Ministry on Sunday ordered the deployment of large numbers of security forces around Paris as angry farmers threatened to march towards the capital.
French farmers are putting pressure on the government to respond to their demands to improve prices for their products, reduce red tape, and protect against cheap imports.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said after an emergency meeting on Sunday evening that 15,000 police officers had been deployed, most of them in the Paris region.
Darmanin said he ordered security forces to “prevent any siege” of the Rungis International Market – which supplies the capital and the surrounding region with a lot of fresh food – and Paris airports, as well as to prevent any convoy of farmers from entering the capital and any convoy of farmers. Another big city. He said that the helicopters would monitor the tractor convoys.
Darmanin said all eight highways heading to Paris were likely to be closed on Monday from midday, and he urged car and truck drivers to “expect” the closures. “Obviously the difficulties are going to be very significant,” he said.
Farmers in the UCR in the Lot and Garonne region, where the protests broke out, said they planned to use their tractors on Monday to head toward the Rungis International Market.
Reuters, AFP
Get a direct note from our foreigners Reporters About what's making headlines around the world. Subscribe to the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
