France 'under tractor siege': Militant farmers block highways around Paris, Lyon, Limoges and Toulouse as they try to blockade major cities amid bitter standoff with Macron's government over wages

Major French cities including Paris were under siege by militant farmers tonight as protests spread across Europe.

Armored cars and 5,000 extra police surrounded the French capital on Monday as a 'quasi-military' blockade went into action.

As night fell, some 1,500 tractors were lined up at six major intersections entering Paris as farm workers called for greater protection against rising costs and an end to the EU's green net-zero policy.

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

By mid-afternoon, they appeared to have achieved their goal of setting up eight bottlenecks on the main roads into Paris, according to Sytadin, a traffic control service.

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

“This is a fight for our lives,” said Gilles Balland, who had traveled from his farm to the southwest of the country, close to the Spanish border.

'Farmers are committing suicide, and we are all struggling to stay afloat. It's the same everywhere,” Mr Balland said. “That is why this siege will last as long as necessary.”

And Stéphane Sanchez, director of the French agricultural union FNSEA, 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 huge traffic jams occurred and food deliveries were cancelled.

Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau, in turn, called for “zero tolerance for violence and degradation” by farmers.

They have already been involved in criminal acts across France, including setting fire to foreign trucks and their products.

Supermarkets have also been raided by groups of militant farmers, who have stolen products from abroad and set them on fire outside the stores.

Mr Fesneau said criminal behavior was unacceptable and that a blockade of the city of Paris was largely futile.

“It is an act that ultimately punishes Parisians above all,” he said. 'I'm not sure if this blocks the entire Ile de France [greater Paris] will serve the interests of farmers.”

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that a security operation had been set up “to prevent any blockage of Rungis and the airport.”

“We will not allow government buildings, tax offices or supermarkets to be damaged or trucks carrying foreign products to be stopped,” he said.

Darmanin said the protests should also not affect Paris's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, or the Rungis international wholesale food market south of the city.

The nationwide agricultural demonstrations have already resulted in two deaths: a car crashed into a roadblock last Tuesday, killing a woman and her teenage daughter and seriously injuring her husband.

President Emmanuel Macron has ordered Gabriel Attal, the country's new Prime Minister, to focus on suppressing a potential 'peasants' uprising' (A 'jacquerie' in French)

He fears a new uprising in the style of the Yellow Vests, or Gilets Jaunes, which led to huge violent riots across the country against fuel tax increases from 2018 to 2020.

Some farmers already call themselves the Gilets Verts, which means green vests.

Farmer leaders said the government's responses so far have been inadequate.

“The prime minister has given us snacks, and now we would like him to work a little harder and give us more,” said Arnaud Lepoil, a member of the leading farmers' union FNSEA.

Arnaud Rousseau, the leader of the FNSEA, and Young Farmers union boss Arnaud Gaillot were expected to meet Attal later on Monday, sources told AFP.

“Our goal is not to irritate the French or make their lives difficult, but to put pressure on the government,” Rousseau told the RTL broadcaster.

Other groups have jumped on the protesting bandwagon. Earlier, about thirty activists from environmental group Greenpeace launched smoke grenades at Place de la Concorde in Paris, near the Champs-Elysees.

They also unfurled a banner in support of the farmers before being led away by police.

Taxi drivers organized their own protest movement on Monday against what they say is insufficient reimbursement for the transport of patients by French health services.

Their go-slows caused even more disruption on the highways.

Similar agricultural disputes are taking place in other EU countries, with tractors on the move in Germany, Italy and Spain, among others.

In neighboring Belgium, farmers have stepped up their own campaign, and in recent weeks farmers' protests have also increased in Poland, Romania and the Netherlands.

The wave of protests came as British group Get Fair About Farming also said British farming is 'on its knees'.