The police try to block his way.
The convoy of farmers leaving the South-West at the call of the Rural Coordination, which had taken the road towards the wholesale market of Rungis (Val-de-Marne) on Wednesday morning, was partly blocked in the Loiret in end of the mornng.
In Sully-sur-Loire, around twenty tractors were stopped before the bridge which spans the Loire by a cordon of mobile gendarmes.
The bridges of Jargeau, Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, Sully-sur-Loire and Gien are blocked, said the gendarmerie, adding that around thirty tractors were heading back towards Pithiviers after having forced passage to Gien in the morning.
“Rungis is no”
The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced Wednesday midday on
Reinforcements, notably armored vehicles, were sent to Essonne and Loiret to firmly prevent access to Rungis.
At the gendarmerie operational center, I recalled my instructions: agricultural demonstrations must be able to be held without exceeding… pic.twitter.com/D7lHL0W16h
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) January 31, 2024
On site, the prefect of the Centre-Val de Loire and Loiret region Sophie Brocas for her part indicated "waiting for the conclusion" of a meeting which she said has been held since 11:30 a.m. in Matignon with officials from Rural Coordination.
“We will move forward step by step, I do not want any confrontation.
Rungis is the platform that supplies a living area of 12 million people, Rungis is no.
The prefects of Lot-et-Garonne and Dordogne warned them and I told them again,” she added.
Between 400 and 500 people
The convoy, which includes 200 to 300 tractors, had spent the night with a farmer sympathetic to the movement, in Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre (Loir-et-Cher), between Vierzon (Cher) and Orléans, after leaving the area around Limoges Tuesday morning.
Leaving Agen on Monday with around thirty tractors, the procession continued to lengthen along the road.
Along their route, the farmers were successively joined by colleagues and supporters to reach between 400 and 500 people, according to the organizers.
Also read: Angry farmers: Jérôme Bayle, Karine Duc, Arnaud Gaillot… Who are the faces of the movement?
On Tuesday, the convoy left the A20 motorway near Châteauroux and traveled along small roads for several hours, closely supervised by the police.
The gendarmes tried twice to stop their progress but they got around them, the farmers explained.
In the villages they passed through, many residents came out to greet them and applaud their passage, sometimes brandishing French flags.
The Rural Coordination did not wish to communicate on the planned route towards Rungis.