Some leaders of a farmer’s union opposed to a massive European Union free trade deal that could wipe out agriculture on the continent have been arrested as tractors overwhelmed police roadblocks to drive into the centre of Paris.
Farmers across Europe turned out to protest the so-called Mercosur deal due to be voted on by the European Union on Friday, a massive free trade agreement with South America which would so flood the continent with cheap food the agricultural sector fears it would all but wipe out farming in Europe. Highways have been blocked in Greece and convoys of tractors are descending on Paris, leading to tense standoffs with police ordered to seize tractors from drivers who disobey commands.
The French government called the protest in Paris “illegal” and “unacceptable” on Thursday, after farmers overwhelmed and sidestepped police roadblocks to get into the city, against government orders. Tractors have been used to block key roads, and “we will not die in silence” protest farmers have set up camp around key junctions and landmarks including the Arc de Triomphe and outside the National Assembly parliament buildings.
Women atop a tractor support farmers as they protest at the Arc de Triomphe against against the European Union’s negotiations over the Mercosur trade deal with five South American nations, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Many more tractors are on the outskirts of Paris, in showdowns with riot police deployed by the interior ministry. Police are ordered, reports Le Figaro, to arrest farmers who are not cooperative and to seize their tractors. This itself has become a major point of contention between farmers and the government in recent months, as the seizures are of equipment farmers need to do their jobs.
Some farmers brandished ‘Frexit’ signs, signalling opposition to the European Union’s trade policy so strong that total withdrawal from the bloc is preferred.
Overnight, regional leaders of one of the more militant right-wing farmers unions Coordination Rurale were arrested, leading to yet more farmers to blockade the city of Rodez in response. Separately, a fuel depot has been blockaded in the Bordeaux region.
As it is, the French government is likely to vote against the Mercosur deal at the European Union, but protesters say it lacks conviction and hasn’t fought for them hard enough in Brussels. France also lacks allies in the bloc to defeat the deal, which is strongly backed by Brussels and wealthy European nations as it would open South America to high-tech and industrial exports in return for food. The leader of France’s centre-right Republicans has warned President Emmanuel Macron that he will impeach the government if they vote for the deal.
In neighbouring Germany, Mercosur protesters also saw tractors take to the highways, with the A4 and A9 motorways blocked by farmers. In the eastern city of Dresden, farmers called a protest in the centre today, with tractors due to descend on the famed Frauenkirche later today, local media reports. In Catalonia, Spanish farmers built blockades across major roads to support the protests.
PARIS, FRANCE – JANUARY 08: French farmers rally in protest against the impending ratification of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement at the Arc de Triomphe on January 08, 2026 in Paris, France. The proposed trans-Atlantic free-trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, has been in negotiation for more than 25 years. Farmers across the EU have staged protests in opposition to the deal over fears of unfair competition from Latin American imports. A decisive vote on the Mercosur deal is expected to take place in Brussels on Friday. (Photo by Tom Nicholson/Getty Images)
Farmers block the Chalkida Bridge with tractors during a protest over delays in European Union–backed agricultural subsidy payments, on Evia island, Greece, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Across the continent in Greece farmers are also protesting on Thursday. Convoys of tractors are enacting a 48-hour nationwide blockade of key highways and junctions to protest Mercosur, but did clash with police as the nation’s conservative government ordered officers to stand back, reports the Associated Press. It notes the government made last-minute concessions to farmers including a tax cut on Wednesday night to smooth over divisions.
This is not enough, however, for as elsewhere Greek farmers fear the impact of the Mercosur deal flooding Europe with food imports from countries with lower mandatory standards and lower production costs. One protest organiser is reported to have said: “If this agreement goes through, Greek agriculture is finished… Greece depends on agriculture and tourism. We don’t have heavy industry like Germany or France. Production costs here are 300% higher than in Latin America.”
These protests have now been going on for weeks and tractor demonstrations have become a familiar part of European life in recent years, as the rural community fights against its own extinction and for its interests against the politics of the ever-more-urban ruling class. As reported, farmers were engaged in a pitched battle with police at the very doors of the European Union in Brussels last month, launching potatoes at officers and burning a great bonfire in the historic city square before the bloc’s parliament against the Mercosur agreement.
Read the full article here