Folks watch slurry, manure and tyres dumped by farmers on the entrance of the native state administration constructing, in Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to proceed protesting and are sustaining site visitors barricades on a number of the nation’s main roads.
Fred Scheiber/AP
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Fred Scheiber/AP
Folks watch slurry, manure and tyres dumped by farmers on the entrance of the native state administration constructing, in Agen, southwestern France, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. French farmers have vowed to proceed protesting and are sustaining site visitors barricades on a number of the nation’s main roads.
Fred Scheiber/AP
PARIS — Two local weather activists hurled soup Sunday on the glass defending the Mona Lisa on the Louvre Museum in Paris and shouted slogans advocating for a sustainable meals system. This got here amid protests by French farmers in opposition to a number of points, together with low wages.
In a video posted on social media, two ladies with the phrases ”FOOD RIPOSTE” written on their t-shirts could possibly be seen passing beneath a safety barrier to get nearer to the portray and throwing soup on the glass defending Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.
”What’s a very powerful factor?” they shouted. ”Artwork, or proper to a wholesome and sustainable meals?”
”Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work,” they added.
The Louvre workers may then be seen placing black panels in entrance of the Mona Lisa and asking guests to evacuate the room.
Paris police mentioned two individuals had been arrested following the incident.
On its web site, the ”Meals Riposte” group mentioned the French authorities is breaking its local weather commitments and referred to as for the equal of the nation’s state-sponsored well being care system to be put in place to provide individuals higher entry to wholesome meals whereas offering farmers a good revenue.
Indignant French farmers have been utilizing their tractors for days to arrange street blockades and gradual site visitors throughout France to hunt higher remuneration for his or her produce, much less crimson tape and safety in opposition to low cost imports. In addition they dumped pungent agricultural waste on the gates of presidency workplaces.
On Friday, the federal government introduced a collection of measures that farmers mentioned don’t totally deal with their calls for. These embrace ”drastically simplifying” sure technical procedures and the progressive finish to diesel gas taxes for farm automobiles.
Some farmers threatened to converge on Paris, beginning Monday, to dam the principle roads resulting in the capital.
New Prime Minister Gabriel Attal visited a farm on Sunday within the central area of Indre-et-Loire. He acknowledged farmers are in a troublesome place as a result of ”on the one facet we are saying ’we’d like high quality’ and on the opposite facet ’we wish ever-lower costs’.”
”What’s at stake is discovering options within the brief, center and long run,” he mentioned, ” as a result of we’d like our farmers.”
Attal additionally mentioned his authorities is contemplating ”extra” measures in opposition to what he referred to as ”unfair competitors” from different nations which have completely different manufacturing guidelines and are importing meals to France.
He promised ”different choices” to be made within the coming weeks to handle farmers’ issues.