Anger of farmers: the demonstration on the A9 in Nîmes will continue “until Tuesday, maybe longer”

This Sunday is also “Farmer Families Day”. Midi Libre – Mikael Anisset

It is in a hot atmosphere that the blocking of the A9 at the western entrance to Nîmes continues. This Sunday, January 28, on site, there are still around fifty local farmers holding on, with smiles on their faces and ready to continue the fight.

As they begin a fourth day of blockade, the mobilization of Gard farmers does not weaken. This Sunday, January 28, there are still many of them blocking the A9 motorway at the Nîmes west interchange, serene. "We are not the green vests, we are here with specific demands", began by explaining the president of the FDSEA du Gard, David Sève.

Only tractors are authorized to circulate at the Nîmes west toll. Midi Libre – Mikael Anisset

"For the moment we're not moving"

It has now been four days since the demonstration began. Far from their farms, the farmers of Gard do not yet have the expected answers and intend to continue their movement. "I asked that the minister come on Tuesday (the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, Editor's note) to be able to discuss and decide on concrete actions to be put in place. For the moment we are not moving until we have concrete progress on Mediterranean agriculture, continued the leader of the movement.

And after ? If it is still too early to estimate when the blocking of the highway “which symbolizes the entire arrival of goods in coming from Spain, the lack of time available to the farmers present for the blockade is beginning to raise questions. "The work that we are not doing at the moment we will have to make up for it later, says a wine grower and cereal grower from Dions. We are not going to be able to stay there for twenty years and we would like our demands to succeed. We'll hold on until Tuesday at least!"

An expected blockade in Paris

Sitting on a sofa or around a fire, there are still around fifty of them blocking it. Free lunch – Mikael Anisset

National unions will call for a blockade of Paris. "I think people will react there", laughs a Cévennes farmer. "For the moment nothing changes, promises, promises and more promises, that's what's happening. We need something concrete,” he continued. 

Among the farmers present this Sunday morning, there will be a few who will be traveling to the capital. "We're going to take with us the tarpaulin where it says 'France, do you still want your peasants ?' and we're going to deploy it at the bottom of the ;#39;Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower,” says David Sève, his face marked by the mobilization but serene about its imminent outcome.

I subscribe to read more