Fiery protests by French farmers over subsidies

Angry French farmers set tires and waste on fire on Friday (January 26) along the A20 highway, protesting a government plan to gradually reduce state subsidies on agricultural diesel. Eyewitness footage also showed garbage being dumped outside a government office in the town of Montauban. The French government later announced it would drop plans to phase out state support on diesel but that has not been enough to assuage farmers who have threatened to converge on the capital Paris in their tractors. French farmers accuse the government of not doing enough to help them, unfair competition amongst neighbouring countries, and draconian agricultural standards that are costly to adhere to. On Friday, the head of France’s biggest farming union - the FNSEA - said he was calling on its members to pursue their protest movement, even after the government said it planned to improve farmers’ living and working conditions. Read more: