Blocking of the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier toll, in Isère, on the A43 by farmers on February 2, 2023 (AFP/JEFF PACHOUD)
The last two blockades of the Peasant Confederation, including that of the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (Isère) toll on the A43, were on Saturday in the process of being lifted by the police, we learned from of the prefecture and the agricultural union.
“The demonstrators are in the process of evacuating the premises, there was a dialogue between demonstrators and the police. Everything is taking place in consultation,” the Isère prefecture told AFP about the toll of the A43, occupied since Tuesday.
Cleaning operations will be able to begin, according to the same source.
The demonstrators present on site will “try to go out with dignity and singing,” said Isabelle Douillon, a farmer from Rhône. “Around fifty gendarmes are on site, everything is happening calmly and peacefully. We are going to leave the place clear.”
“We resisted as best we could, we are the only ones to have called to continue the fight,” she added, while the deployment of 1,000 hives was initially planned for Monday.
Around 80 farmers who had been blocking the Leclerc purchasing center for the great west of France since Monday evening, in Saint-Etienne-de-Montluc (Loire-Atlantique), were also in the process of being evacuated.
“We are being evacuated by the police, who came with great resources. We are being evacuated even though we were completely peaceful,” laments Jean-François Guitton, secretary general of the Peasant Confederation in Loire-Atlantique, specifying that “there is not a trace of our passage left, we leave the place intact”.
“They require an identity check of everyone present, this has not been done on any other blockade,” he also assures, being surprised to receive “different treatment from what was done on other blockages”.
The A43 and Sca West roadblocks were the last two held by the Confédération paysanne, according to a spokesperson for the agricultural union.
The latter called for continued mobilization this weekend and next week to denounce the government’s agricultural policy.
© 2024 AFP
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