PARIS (AP) – Growing demonstrations by French farmers protesting low wages and other grievances turned tragic Tuesday when a woman was killed and her husband and daughter injured in a traffic collision at a protest barricade. I was visited.
Prosecutor Olivier Muise said in a statement that the car plowed into straw bales placed by demonstrators across the road, colliding with a tractor semi-trailer and hitting three people before coming to a stop.
The fatal crash in southwestern France marks a dramatic shift in a growing movement among French farmers demanding better pay and against what they see as overregulation, rising costs and other problems. showed that.
Months of demonstrations have intensified in recent weeks, with traffic barricades erected, foul-smelling agricultural waste dumped outside government offices and other protests. . Farmers have also turned road signs upside down to protest what they say is a nonsensical agricultural policy.
French farmers vow to continue tractor protests 'as long as necessary'https://t.co/P9dv8iFBxK
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France is one of Europe's agricultural powers and has a powerful agricultural lobby, but despite working long hours to feed the country and increase agricultural exports, many struggle to make ends meet. There is also strong dissatisfaction among farmers.
French President Emmanuel Macron's government has been forced to take action as the Yellow Vest protests against economic injustice in 2019 saw his popularity decline and frequent violence break out between demonstrators and riot police. , has been working to allay farmers' concerns before their anger explodes into a broader movement.
“Being a farmer means working non-stop,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who was replaced by Macron in a government reshuffle this month, posted on social media on Tuesday. We are and will always be by their side.”
The woman who died after being hit by a car in the Ariège region of southwestern France was a farmer, Attal said.
“All of our farmers are grieving. Our people are in shock,” he said.
Prosecutors said in a statement that the car was carrying three people when it crashed into a straw bale barricade in the town of Ariège, Pamiers.
The woman who died in the early morning crash was in her 30s, the statement said. Prosecutors said her husband, in his 40s, was hospitalized with serious injuries and her 14-year-old daughter was in a “worrying” condition and had to be flown by helicopter for hospital treatment, but her Details of the injury were not disclosed.
The statement said the collision did not appear to be intentional. Police detained the three people in the car for questioning.
