French farmers block highways around Paris as protests ratchet up pressure on President Macron

Farmers blocked one of France’s main motorways connecting Paris with the northern city of Lille, the Benelux, and Britain on Friday. Massive traffic jams in the French capital were witnessed due to the ongoing protest movement by farmers. The demonstrations aim to draw attention to their demands for government measures to support and protect the agricultural sector. Traffic-snarling drive-slows, barricades of straw bales, stinky dumps of agricultural waste outside government offices and other demonstrations have rapidly blown up to become the first major crisis for newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, installed two weeks ago by President Emmanuel Macron in hopes of injecting new vigour into his administration. Macron’s opponents are seizing on the farmers’ demonstrations to bash his government’s record ahead of European elections in June. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party is polling strongly, blamed free-trade agreements, imports and bureaucracy for farmers’ economic woes. Local farming unions have called for roadblocks in and around Paris on Friday to step up the pressure on the government which the farmers accuse of not helping them enough to cope with what they say are low food prices and excessive regulation. The roadblock on the A1 north of Paris lead to traffic jams of around 4 km (2.5 miles) in the morning, according to the transport ministry’s online service Bison Fute. French media reported farmers had also set up first roadblocks on traffic axes in the Essonne department south of Paris in the early morning hours, while most protests were expected to start in the early afternoon. The government said it would announce first immediate measures aimed at taming the farmer outrage later on Friday with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal expected to speak in the afternoon. So far, the government has not specified when and where Attal is due to speak or what measures could be announced. With inputs from agencies.