PARIS (Reuters) – Some French farmers stormed into a major Paris farm fair on Saturday ahead of a planned visit by President Emmanuel Macron amid anger over costs, red tape and green regulations.
Facing dozens of policemen inside the trade fair, the farmers were shouting and booing, calling for the resignation of Macron and using expletives aimed at the French leader.
Macron, who is having breakfast with French farmers’ union leaders, was scheduled to walk within the alleys of the trade fair afterwards.
He canceled a debate he wanted to hold at the farm fair on Saturday with farmers, food processors and retailers, after farmers unions said they would not show up.
Farmers have been protesting across Europe, calling for better income, less bureaucracy and denouncing unfair competition from cheap Ukrainian goods imported to help Kyiv’s war effort.
(Reporting by Lucien Libert, Stéphanie Lecocq; Writing by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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