Port of Calais blockade by furious farmers leaves trucks bound for UK stranded in France
French farmers have unleashed a barrage of protests in the past few weeks over tax increases and EU agricultural laws.
In a display of solidarity within the French farmers' movement, truck access to the Calais port is currently being blocked preventing the transportation of goods to the United Kingdom.
This morning farmers initiated a blockade of the main route leading to the Calais port for trucks destined for the UK, in support of a wider national protest movement, according to statements from the port authorities and the FDSEA.
The demonstrators have effectively closed off access to the port's ring road "for all freight, but tourist vehicles are permitted to pass", as reported by the Calais port to AFP.
Antoine Peenaert, the representative of FDSEA in Calaisis, confirmed that these disruptions are expected to persist until 3.00pm.
The A16 motorway is also blocked at the level of access to the cross-Channel platforms without disrupting traffic in the Channel Tunnel at this stage, according to Eurotunnel.
"It’s a general feeling of fed up, we’ve been trying to tell our politicians for months, but there’s nothing that’s moving, we’re fed up," Julien Duchateau a farmer in Marquise (Pas-de-Calais) who is among the demonstrators, said.
He added that "the paperwork" required at the border "infuriates everyone".
“We are doing our best to respect standards, respect the environment and we are being charged more and more. We are reducing our expenses so that we have something left to live on, but as all the prices have soared, it is we have nothing left at all," Romain Boulet, another farmer, added.
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Roadblocks were spreading in many French regions, one day after a farmer and her daughter died due to a traffic collision at a protest barricade.
Farmers have also been turning road signs upside down to protest what they argue are nonsensical agricultural policies.
Some were planning to protest in Brussels, home to EU headquarters, where French farmers' union Rural Coordination called for a demonstration against the "ever-increasing constraints of European regulations and ever-lower incomes".
The protests are the first major challenge for newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who took office two weeks ago, and his government. Attal met with farmers' unions' representatives on Tuesday.
Following the meeting, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau promised to make new proposals to respond to the crisis by the end of the week, including regarding food prices and simplifying regulations.
Arnaud Rousseau, head of France's major farmers union FNSEA, said his organisation would release a list of 40 necessary measures later on Wednesday. Speaking on France 2 television, he said the protest movement was aimed at "getting quick results".