Dozens of tractors drove peacefully into a neighbourhood on the capital’s west side carrying flags from Rural Coordination, the farmers’ union that staged the protest.
The protesters then posed with their tractors on a bridge over the Seine River with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
The latest protest comes three weeks after farmers lifted roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country after the government offered over 400 million euros (USD 433 million) to address their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and what they describe as unfair competition from abroad.
“Save our agriculture,” the Rural Coordination said on X. One tractor was carrying a poster reading: “Death is in the field.”
The convoy temporarily slowed traffic on the A4 highway, east of the capital, and on the Paris ring-road earlier on Friday morning.
French farmers’ actions are part of a broader protest movement in Europe against EU agriculture policies, bureaucracy and overall business conditions.
Farmers complain that the 27-nation bloc’s environmental policies, such as the Green Deal, which calls for limits on the use of chemicals and on greenhouse gas emissions, limit their business and make their products more expensive than non-EU imports.
Other protests are being staged across France as farmers seek to put pressure on the government to implement its promises.
Government officials have held a series of meetings with farmers unions in recent weeks to discuss a new bill meant to defend France’s “agricultural sovereignty”.
The government’s plan also includes hundreds of millions of euros in aid, tax breaks and a promise not to ban pesticides in France that are allowed elsewhere in Europe, which French farmers say puts them at an unfair disadvantage.
French President Emmanuel Macron is to visit Paris Agricultural Fair on Saturday, where he is planning to have a “big debate” with farmers, supermarket CEOs and members of environmental groups, his office said.
Paris Agricultural Fair is one of the world’s largest farm fairs, drawing crowds every year.
The police also lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the farmers who were heading to the Khanauri border point of Punjab and Haryana.
The farm activists led by khap panchayats and farmers organisations had given a call for Khanauri march today.
According to sources, a scuffle ensued between the police and protesting farmers after some cops started snatching the keys of tractors.
Several farmers and policemen suffered injuries in the violent clash that continued for about two hours. Vehicles of farmers and police were also damaged in the clash.
DSP Ravinder Sangwan, DSP Raj Singh and SHO Chander Bhan were among the injured, the sources said, adding that some injured farmer activists were admitted to private hospitals at Kheri Chopta.
The police detained about 15 farmer leaders, including Suresh Koth and Kuldeep Kharar, from the pucca morcha at Kheri Chopta. They were released by the police late in the evening after the Hisar Deputy Commissioner and Hansi SP held a meeting with farm activists.
Meanwhile, farmer leaders will hold a meeting at the pucca morcha on Saturday evening to chalk out the further course of action.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) observed a “black day” on Friday and burnt effigies of BJP leaders in protest against the Haryana Police’s action against agitating farmers camping at two of the state’s border points.
The call was given by the SKM on Thursday to mourn the death of Shubhkaran Singh, who died in clashes between the Haryana Police and farmers from Punjab.
The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), which is a part of the SKM, said on Friday that it held demonstrations at 47 places in 17 Punjab districts in protest against Singh’s death
BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said they burnt effigies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij.
In Amritsar, farmers burnt an effigy of the BJP-led Centre at the New Golden Gate, the main entry point to the city.
SKM leader Rattan Singh Randhawa said protests were held at various villages along the border, including Doekey, Mahima, Pandori, Modhey and Ratokey
In Ludhiana, members of the SKM and trade unions jointly held a demonstration outside the Mini Secretariat.
They burnt effigies of Shah, Khattar and Vij.
The protesters demanded the resignation of the ministers and the registration of a murder case against those responsible for the death of Singh.
Similar protests took place in Hoshiarpur district where farmers raised slogans against the Centre and the Haryana government.
They also demanded that the government accept the demands of the protesting farmers, including a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The SKM, which spearheaded a 2020-21 agitation against three farm laws that have since been repealed, is not a part of the “Delhi Chalo” agitation, but has extended support to it.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are spearheading the “Delhi Chalo” march to press the Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee on the MSP and farm loan waiver.
Members of the SKM (Non-Political) and KMM put up black flags on their vehicles to register their protest against Singh’s death.
Farmer leaders put the march on hold for two days on Wednesday after Singh’s death and said they would decide their next course of action on Friday evening.
Besides the MSP, the farmers from Punjab are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh.
Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the 2020-21 agitation against the three farm laws are also among their demands.
