French Farmers Aim To Put Paris ‘Under Siege’ In Tractor Protest. Activists Hurl Soup At ‘Mona Lisa’

PARIS — France’s interior ministry authorised a major deployment of security personnel around Paris on Sunday as angry farmers threatened to march on the capital, hours after climate activists threw soup at the glass shielding the “Mona Lisa” masterpiece at the Louvre.

French farmers are putting pressure on the government to meet their demands for higher pay for their produce, less red tape, and protection from cheap imports.

According to his office, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin conducted a security meeting on Sunday in preparation for probable roadblocks around Paris.

According to the statement, Darmanin instructed security troops to “prevent any blockade” of Rungis International Market and Paris airports, as well as to prohibit any agricultural convoy from entering the capital.

French Farmers Aim To Put Paris ‘Under Siege’ In Tractor Protest. Activists Hurl Soup At ‘Mona Lisa’

Farmers from the Rural Coordination union in the Lot-et-Garonne region, where the protests began, intend to use their tractors to go to the Rungis International Market on Monday, which supplies much of the capital and the surrounding region’s fresh food.

France’s two largest agricultural unions stated that their members in the Paris region would block all key highways to the capital, placing the city “under siege,” beginning Monday afternoon.

Earlier Sunday, two climate activists threw soup at the glass protecting the “Mona Lisa” and screamed slogans calling for a sustainable food system.

In a video shared on social media, two women wearing T-shirts with the slogan “FOOD RIPOSTE” could be seen passing behind a security barrier to get closer to the painting and flinging soup at the glass shielding Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.

“What’s the most important thing?” They shouted. “Art, or right to a healthy and sustainable food?”

“Our farming system is unhealthy. “Our farmers are dying at work,” they said.

French Farmers Aim To Put Paris ‘Under Siege’ In Tractor Protest. Activists Hurl Soup At ‘Mona Lisa’

Employees at the Louvre were then observed installing black panels in front of the Mona Lisa and requesting that tourists leave the room.

According to Paris police, two people were arrested during the event.

The “Food Riposte” group said on its website that the French government is failing its climate obligations and asked to establish an equivalent to the country’s state-sponsored health care system to improve people’s access to healthy food while providing farmers with a reasonable income.

For days, angry French farmers have used their tractors to create roadblocks and impede traffic around France. They also dumped filthy agricultural waste at the gates of government buildings.

On Friday, the administration announced a series of measures that farmers claim do not adequately address their concerns. These include “drastically simplifying” key technical procedures and gradually eliminating diesel fuel taxes for farm vehicles.

On Sunday, France’s new Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, paid a visit to a farm in the central region of Indre-et-Loire. He admitted that farmers are in a difficult position because “on the one hand we say ‘we need quality’ and on the other side ‘we want ever-lower prices.'”

French Farmers Aim To Put Paris ‘Under Siege’ In Tractor Protest. Activists Hurl Soup At ‘Mona Lisa’

“What’s at stake is finding solutions in the short, middle and long term,” he said, “because we need our farmers.”

Attal also stated that his administration is considering “additional” steps to combat what he calls “unfair competition” from other nations with differing production laws and importing food into France.

He promised farmers that “other decisions” would be taken in the coming weeks to address their concerns.

SOURCE – (AP)