{Angry French farmers blocked the Mont Saint-Michel causeway and highways leading to the Alps on Thursday to denounce low milk and meat prices.}<\/p>\n
The farmers used tires, tractors and tree trunks to block roads all around the country.<\/p>\n
Mont Saint-Michel, in the northwestern Normandy region, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tourists were forced to park their cars along the road and walk for several kilometers to the famous island.<\/p>\n
The farmers blocked three major highways around the city of Lyon, a gateway to the Alps and to the south of France. Traffic was backed up about 25 kilometers (15 miles) by midday.<\/p>\n
Some roads in western France, a region with many milk and pork farms, were also jammed.<\/p>\n
The protests were prompted by disappointment over the government’s offer to back loans to the farmers and delay tax payments as part of a 600 million-euro ($654 million) plan.<\/p>\n
The government stopped short of providing any direct financial aid to the farmers, in order not to break EU market rules.<\/p>\n
Farmers say their margins are being chipped way by cheap imports and pressure from grocery chains.<\/p>\n
Xavier Beulin, president of the FNSEA, the main farmers’ union, warned that other protests “will probably happen in the next two to three days.”<\/p>\n
Some “need to express their anger,” he said on Europe 1 radio. Beulin said he is willing to quickly work with the government on “long-term and mid-term solutions.”<\/p>\n
This weekend, many French people will be on the roads to start their summer vacations.<\/p>\n
French farmers often resort to spectacular protests to make their demands heard.<\/p>\n
Low prices have put about 10 percent of livestock farms on the verge of bankruptcy, the government said.<\/p>\n
President Francois Hollande met with some farmers and union officials on Thursday in the city of Dijon, in the Burgundy region.<\/p>\n
“We want supermarket chains to make the necessary effort to pay the farmers,” he said.<\/p>\n
{{Source: AP}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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