French farmers’ signpost protests indicate a major clash on the horizon

Farmers are angry in France! French farmers’ signpost protests indicate a major clash on the horizon

strange sounds

Farmers in the Brittany region of France on Wednesday staged a protest using tractors in the city of Rennes in response to the government’s agricultural policies.

The protesting farmers argue that they are burdened with excessive regulations in the context of their agricultural activities.

According to local reports, upon reaching the headquarters of the Brittany Regional Council, the farmers spread straw in the parking lot and scattered official documents.

Later, the farmers proceeded to the front of the regional directorate of agriculture and forestry with their tractors, where they spread grass.

According to a statement from the Rennes police on the social media platform X, the farmers conducted the protest using 100 tractors.

Whilst the French are famous for their readiness to protest, as we’ve seen elsewhere in the West, there is a concerted attack on farmers, and the food supply more generally, and it’s only a matter of time before totalitarian legislation comes for France’s farmers; as the following analysis from John Lichfield in TheLocal.fr:

If you’re in rural France you might have seen village signposts turned upside down – rather than a simple prank this is a protest from young French farmers which could, writes John Lichfield, be the start of a major clash between farmers, environmentalists and the government.

Normandy has been turned upside down. So, it appears, have large parts of France.

In my corner of Calvados almost all the name signs at the edge of towns and village have been unbolted and replaced the wrong way up. A scribbled sign beside the road announces: “Nous marchons sur la tête.” (We are walking on our heads).

Is this the action of a night-time gang of rural surrealists? Does it announce the return of the Gilets Jaunes?

No. It is part of an agricultural “rebellion of the signs” which started in the Gard in south-eastern France two weeks ago and has spread like a prairie fire across the country.

The protest, devised by Jeunes Agriculteurs, the young farmers organisation, warns of more disruptive action to come if the government does nothing to address a thicket of agricultural grievances.

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