Major European cities in Paris, Germany and Belgium were placed under siege by militant farmers across the continent tonight.

Armoured cars and 5,000 extra police surrounded Paris on Monday as a ‘quasi-military’ blockade swung into action, while police in Hamburg, Germany, were called out to deal with farmers who have been protesting Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s decision to cut subsidies.

Over in Belgium, a minister was forced to evacuate the site of a protest on a major highway in the Walloon region.

As night fell, some 1500 tractors were in place at six major junctions entering Paris, while agriculture workers called for more protection against rising costs, and for an end to the EU’s green net zero policies.

Protesting farmers started the operation by blocking the A13 highway to the west of the capital, the A4 to the east and the A6 on which hundreds of tractors rolled towards Paris from the south.

By midafternoon they appeared to have met their objective of establishing eight chokepoints on major roads into Paris, according to Sytadin, a traffic monitoring service.

Another target was the Rungis International Market – nicknamed the ‘belly of Paris’ – which serves the majority of the capital’s restaurants, cafés and supermarkets.

‘This is a battle for our lives,’ said Gilles Balland, who had travelled from his farm the south west of the country, close to the Spanish border.

‘Farmers are committing suicide, and all of us are struggling to stay in business – it’s the same everywhere,’ said Mr Balland.’That’s why this siege will go on for as long as it takes.’

And Stéphane Sanchez, director of France’s FNSEA agriculture union, said ‘the siege of Paris’ had been prepared with ‘quasi-military’ precision.

There were similar sieges in other cities and towns, including Lyon, Limoges and Toulouse, where massive traffic jams built up and food deliveries were cancelled.

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Via https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13020267/France-tractor-siege-Militant-farmers-choke-motorways-Paris-Lyon-Limoges-Toulouse-attempt-blockade-major-cities-amid-bitter-standoff-Macrons-government-pay.html