Anger of farmers: mobilization weakens but highway blockages persist in the South-West

If several blockages were lifted on Saturday, axes remain closed in the South-West this Sunday, the A64 between Toulouse and Bayonne and the A63 in Cestas, near Bordeaux, where some farmers are currently refusing the Christmas truce.

The agricultural mobilization is gradually dispersing during this first weekend of the Christmas holidays. While vacationers began their travels yesterday, Saturday, December 20, on congested roads, the number of blockages decreased significantly.

The Ministry of the Interior recorded 50 actions at the end of the day on Saturday, mobilizing 1,619 farmers, compared to 93 actions and “less than 4,000 people” on Friday evening. A significant drop which testifies to the beginning of de-escalation, even if certain bastions still resist, notably in the South-West.

A Christmas truce that is gradually taking hold

The “Christmas truce” called for by the government seems to be gradually being put in place. Several blockades were lifted on Saturday in the South-West: the A75 reopened south of the Millau viaduct at 6:30 p.m., the A89 was cleared in Dordogne near Périgueux, and the Lioran tunnel in Cantal was finally freed. In Haute-Vienne, the prefecture announced “the end of the blockage north of Limoges”, while in Corrèze, the Rural Coordination has lifted its blockades on the A20 at Brive and on the A89 at Ussel.

Despite this de-escalation, the Rural Coordination made it clear in a press release that it “is not calling for an end to mobilizations on the ground”. Its president, Bertrand Venteau, “will be present on January 5 for the next meeting with the Prime Minister” in order to “maintain pressure on the negotiations”. The Peasant Confederation, for its part, assures that “all the teams mobilized on the ground are determined to remain in action”.

The A64 and the A63, the last bastions of the protest

Eight roads or motorways remained blocked on Sunday morning, particularly in the South-West. “Disruptions persist on the network between Bayonne and Toulouse towards the Pyrenees. Traffic difficulties could continue for the start and/or part of the school holidays,” indicates VINCI Autoroutes on its website.

Thus, the A64 between Toulouse and Bayonne remains closed for more than 180 km, from Haute-Garonne to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. In Carbonne, the Ultras of the A64, led by Jérôme Bayle, have no intention of letting go of this strip of asphalt where they have been installed for a week. “We are not going to let ourselves be intimidated, we have to be there because we all have a claim to make,” confided Vincent Riffet, a cereal farmer a few kilometers away.

On the A63, the dam at Cestas, near Bordeaux, remains in place. Fabrice Lagueyt, cattle breeder in Gironde and co-president of the Gironde Rural Coordination, told AFP on Saturday morning that the blockade would be maintained “for the minimum time until Sunday evening”. The highway remains open in the Bordeaux-Bayonne direction with a short diversion. In Ariège, the blockage of the N20 at Tarascon-sur-Ariège to access Andorra continues, impacting trucks and coaches, while light vehicles can circulate. The A65 between Pau and Bordeaux or the A75 in Lozère are also affected according to the gendarmes.

Actions located in other regions

Outside the South-West, some occasional actions took place on Saturday. In Aubagne, in Bouches-du-Rhône, 200 to 250 people gathered with 300 ewes and 250 lambs in the parking lot of a hypermarket, at the call of the Peasant Confederation.

In Indre-et-Loire, several dams remained on the A10, notably near Château-Renault and Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine. In the Jura, a “festive action” was organized at the Bersaillin motorway roundabout, while in Vienne, around forty breeders demonstrated disguised as cows in front of the Poitiers prefecture.

The dermatosis file still pending

The major point of tension remains the management of lumpy skin disease (LCD). Saturday evening, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu took stock of vaccinations, indicating that “nearly 50% of the Ariège livestock are vaccinated”, more than “70% in Aude” and “100% of the livestock in the Pyrénées-Orientales”. “In total, nearly one in five cattle is vaccinated in the ten departments” concerned by the generalization of vaccination, he said on X. A new meeting is planned for the beginning of January between the government and agricultural unions.