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Furious French farmers blocked highways into Spain as part of a nationwide protest against excessive bureaucracy and complaints that they were not receiving enough money to buy their crops.
Spain’s National Federation of Transport Associations said some Spanish trucks had also been attacked at the border, with Madrid’s agriculture minister calling the incident “absolutely unacceptable”.
French farmers are protesting against the government to demand more support amid the harsh economic climate.
The protests are currently affecting traffic attempting to cross from Spain to France on the AP-7 motorway, which runs along the Mediterranean coast from southern Spain to the border. Approximately 20,000 Spanish trucks enter France every day.
Catalan transport agency Transit said on X/Twitter that the northbound lanes of AP-7 were blocked in the border municipality of La Jonquera, and shared online video footage showing a long line of trucks.
The Spanish transport federation Fenadismel has released footage of a Spanish truck driver allegedly being forced to empty 20,000 liters of wine from his tank, and has accused French protesters of assaulting French protesters. He was accused of causing damage and destroying property.
“Justice demands accompanied by unacceptable behavior lose all legitimacy,” wrote X/Twitter.
Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told reporters on Thursday that the attack on the truck was “absolutely unacceptable.”
French farmers block highway to Spain
(Reuters)
“We fully respect the right to demonstrate and to express opinions freely, but always in a respectful and peaceful manner, not by violent means or coercion,” he said.
Andrés Góngora, from the COAG farmers’ association, said Spanish farmers understand why French farmers are protesting and share some of their demands.
“What we don’t understand is that they are focusing their protests on Spanish products, even though we, like them, are members of the European Union,” Góngora said. said. “Free movement of goods must be guaranteed.”
Protesters also blocked one of the main highways linking Paris with Lille in the north on Friday, causing lengthy traffic jams.
France’s new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who visited the Haute-Garonne region on Friday, sought to allay farmers’ anger.
He told attendees that the new government had decided to “prioritize agriculture above all else.”
Attal said he would encourage French people to buy domestically produced products.