Protesting farmers in France have threatened to encircle Paris and other major cities in the country in a "quasi-military siege."
Tractors were being put in place at eight key routes on Monday, Jan. 29 to block them later in the afternoon to call for more protection against rising production costs, as well as for an end to green net zero policies that they said would put them out of business.
"[T]he 'siege of Paris' is being prepared with quasi-military organization," agriculture union FNSEA director Stéphane Sanchez said.
Another place farmers would be blocking is Rungis, Paris's southern food market, as well as other roads such as the A1 motorway from Paris to Calais, the Daily Mail reported.
The goal for the blockade was not to "annoy the population," said Paris Young Farmers member Clément Torpier, but to get actionable answers from the government.
The protests have since left a woman and her daughter dead after a car rammed into a farmers' roadblock last week. The woman's husband was also seriously injured.
Farmers' Criminal Behavior
On the other hand, French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau called for "zero tolerance and degradation" by the farmers, some of them already involved in criminal acts in other parts of France, including setting fire to foreign trucks and their produce.
Supermarkets have also been raided by groups of militant farmers, stealing their produce from overseas, and setting it ablaze outside the stores.
Fesneau also said that criminal behavior was unacceptable, and a blockade of the city of Paris was largely useless as it would "penalize" Parisians.
"I'm not sure that blocking the whole of the Ile de France [great Paris] will serve the interests of the farmers," he added.
Meanwhile, French Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that a large security operation would be in place around Paris on Monday to "prevent any blockage of Rungis and the airport."
French President Emmanuel Macron has since ordered Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to quell a potential "peasants' revolt" similar to that of the Yellow Vest revolt between 2018 and 2020.
Similar farmers' movements have also been launched in several European countries, including Germany, Italy, and Spain. According to Reuters, French farmers are calling on the EU to change its agricultural laws to quell the protests across the continent.
