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French farmers vow Paris ‘siege’ in showdown with the government

Farmers say they plan to block major roads leading to the capital from Monday in a bid to pressure the French government into reinstating a tax break on diesel.

Published: 27 January 2024 21:23 CET

French farmers are angry with the government. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP)

Farmers in the Paris region on Saturday promised to mount a “siege” on the French capital next week to pressure the government into meeting their demands on pay, tax and regulations.

On Monday afternoon farmers from all the regions around Paris, who belong to the FNSEA farmers’ union or the Jeunes Agriculteurs (“Young Farmers”) union, “will begin an indefinite siege of the capital,” the unions wrote in a press release.

“All the major roads leading to the capital will be occupied by farmers”, they added.

Farmers from the Lot-et-Garonne, one of the hotspots of the protest movement in southern France, had earlier announced their intention to “go to Paris” on Monday to blockade the massive Rungis wholesale food market south of the capital.

French farmers have fumed at what they say is a squeeze on purchase prices for produce by supermarket and industrial buyers, as well as complex environmental regulations.

But the last straw for many was the phasing out of a tax break on diesel for farm equipment.

Saturday’s announcement came the day after French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a number of concessions to farmers, after they blockaded major routes into Paris and down in the south of the country.

Facing his first major crisis as prime minister, Attal told the angry farmers “you wanted to send a message, and I’ve received it loud and clear”.

Attal said the government would “put an end” to the rising cost of diesel fuel used for farming machinery which has been a consequence of tax breaks on the fuel being phased out.

There would also be an emergency fund to help cattle farmers battle illnesses among their livestock.

But minutes after that announcement, FNSEA boss Arnaud Rousseau dashed hopes of a swift end to the crisis, calling for “continued mobilisation”.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.