Protesting French farmers seize and burn goods from foreign lorries
Several foreign-registered lorries have been stopped at blockades erected by protesting French farmers, who seized and burned the goods they were transporting.
Along the A7 motorway in south-eastern France, protesting farmers reportedly stopped 'foreign lorries' and burned some of the non-French items inside on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.
Other items were donated to charity, protesters said, with produce seized including fruit, vegetables, meat and wine.
The blockade was one of dozens erected around France as farmers launch widespread and increasingly disruptove protests over French and EU regulations which they say make their jobs impossible.
LATEST Which roads are blocked on Thursday?
The foreign-registered lorries were stopped near Montélimar, which is located between Valence and Avignon in the south east of France.
"With our group, we stopped the foreign lorries with the utmost courtesy. We opened them up and everything that was foreign was emptied, and a lot of it went to the charity Restos du Cœur", Sylvie Meynier, a winegrower and one of two vice-presidents for the FDSEA union in the Drôme, told BFMTV.
"What makes us angry is that we shouldn't be importing the food we have here. We produce based on exceptional standards (...) we no longer make a living from our profession", she told the French news channel.
Another winegrower, Laurent, in the Rochegude area in Drôme also confirmed foreign trucks have been stopped overnight.
He told France Bleu: "I'm amazed by the number of foreign lorries driving on our land (...) cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts from Belgium and Germany, chickens from Poland. We also emptied a tank of Spanish white wine."
According to reporting by BFMTV, tonnes of Spanish fruit was also dumped during the night.
Farmers continued to block dozens of motorways across the country on Thursday morning, while other protests include rolling roadblocks, blockades at péages (toll booths) and protests on city ringroads.
On Wednesday protesters blocked UK-bound lorries from entering the port of Calais.
Several local authorities, including the authority in the A7 area, are advising people to avoid non-essential travel by road.
Public transport services are largely unaffected by the protests.
07h00 : Point de situation sur les routes en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
🛣️❌ Les automobilistes sont invités à différer tout déplacement et privilégier les transports en commun ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/OMANrK16mf
— Préfète de région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et du Rhône (@prefetrhone) January 25, 2024
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Along the A7 motorway in south-eastern France, protesting farmers reportedly stopped 'foreign lorries' and burned some of the non-French items inside on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.
Other items were donated to charity, protesters said, with produce seized including fruit, vegetables, meat and wine.
The blockade was one of dozens erected around France as farmers launch widespread and increasingly disruptove protests over French and EU regulations which they say make their jobs impossible.
LATEST Which roads are blocked on Thursday?
The foreign-registered lorries were stopped near Montélimar, which is located between Valence and Avignon in the south east of France.
"With our group, we stopped the foreign lorries with the utmost courtesy. We opened them up and everything that was foreign was emptied, and a lot of it went to the charity Restos du Cœur", Sylvie Meynier, a winegrower and one of two vice-presidents for the FDSEA union in the Drôme, told BFMTV.
"What makes us angry is that we shouldn't be importing the food we have here. We produce based on exceptional standards (...) we no longer make a living from our profession", she told the French news channel.
Another winegrower, Laurent, in the Rochegude area in Drôme also confirmed foreign trucks have been stopped overnight.
He told France Bleu: "I'm amazed by the number of foreign lorries driving on our land (...) cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts from Belgium and Germany, chickens from Poland. We also emptied a tank of Spanish white wine."
According to reporting by BFMTV, tonnes of Spanish fruit was also dumped during the night.
Farmers continued to block dozens of motorways across the country on Thursday morning, while other protests include rolling roadblocks, blockades at péages (toll booths) and protests on city ringroads.
On Wednesday protesters blocked UK-bound lorries from entering the port of Calais.
Several local authorities, including the authority in the A7 area, are advising people to avoid non-essential travel by road.
Public transport services are largely unaffected by the protests.
07h00 : Point de situation sur les routes en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
— Préfète de région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et du Rhône (@prefetrhone) January 25, 2024
🛣️❌ Les automobilistes sont invités à différer tout déplacement et privilégier les transports en commun ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/OMANrK16mf
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