Road Blockades by Farmers Persist: On the First Day of Christmas Holidays, Discover the Routes to Avoid

These French farmers, true warriors of the soil, raise rightful barricades against a craven government that slaughters their herds wholesale for some pox and barters their livelihoods to foreign mercies in that wretched Mercosur pact ... How boldly they defy the holiday "truce" begged by spineless ministers. Pathetic rulers, hiding behind pleas for peace while crushing the very hands that feed the realm.

[In case you don't speak French, because neither do I:

The government has called for a "Christmas truce." This call was echoed by the FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA), but not by the Rural Coordination or the Peasant Confederation. Will farmers' anger survive the Christmas holidays? Five days before the Nativity feast, calls for a truce are multiplying. Following the postponement of the EU-Mercosur agreement, agricultural unions are divided on the continuation of the blockades, which were initially relaunched to protest the government's management of bovine dermatosis. Received yesterday at Matignon by Sébastien Lecornu, the FNSEA and Young Farmers unions requested the lifting of the blockades, unlike the Rural Coordination and the Peasant Confederation, which are united against the strategy to combat contagious nodular dermatosis (DNC).However, farmers' representatives say they do not want to complicate holidaymakers' travel, many of whom have been on the road since Friday. Yesterday, in the mid-afternoon, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez counted 93 actions, bringing together just under 4,000 people and 900 agricultural vehicles. Many blockades were lifted this Saturday morning, particularly in the Southwest. But other actions are planned. What to expect this weekend? Le Figaro takes stock of the ongoing blockades and those planned for the coming days.

Persistent Blockades in the Southwest:
In the Southwest, the situation is improving with the progressive lifting of blockade points," signals Vinci Autoroutes, even though a few blockades remain this Saturday morning. The A64 Toulouse-Bayonne highway remains closed over more than 180 km, from Haute-Garonne to Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The blockade in place for over a week at Carbonne (Haute-Garonne), on this same highway, continues as well. Blockades also persist on the A75 in Aveyron, where a snail operation is planned this Saturday despite the prefecture's ban. "It is strongly advised against using the A75 to go to Montpellier," emphasizes APRR in a press release. Blockades continue in Ariège on the RN20 Toulouse-Andorre, the access road to the Ax-3 Domaines ski resort, which is fully booked for the holidays.

The Tarascon-sur-Ariège blockade will continue "until Sébastien Lecornu announces the end of total slaughter" of herds upon discovery of a bovine dermatosis case, declared Christophe Gouazé, an Ariège breeder and member of the Peasant Confederation. The blockade on the A63 at Cestas, near Bordeaux, is maintained "for the moment at least until Sunday evening," stated Fabrice Lagueyt, a cattle breeder in Gironde and co-president of the Rural Coordination of Gironde (CR33), on Saturday morning. Traffic also remains cut on the A64 between Bayonne and Pau, at Urt. "We're not letting go this time," warns Thierry Léon, a member of the CR in Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

In Corrèze, after the lifting of the blockades and the cleaning of the affected highways, traffic has resumed normally on the A89 in both directions at Ussel, and on the A20 at Brive, but only in the Toulouse-Paris direction. The A65 is finally closed in both directions in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, signals the APRR highway company. Heading to Pau, it's between exit 8 Garlin and the junction with the A64 that is impacted. Heading to Bordeaux, the section between the A64 and exit 9 for Thèze is closed. Additionally, diffuser 6 Aire-sur-l'Adour centre is closed in both directions on the A65.

For six days, Peasant Confederation farmers from Hérault have also occupied the Vendargues roundabout, in the suburbs of Montpellier. The union is calling for one last day of mobilization this Saturday, emphasizing the denunciation of Mercosur, according to Info Occitanie. A final action before lifting the blockade. The local union section indicates on social media that it has achieved its objectives, with the opening of vaccination against contagious nodular dermatosis (DNC) for the entire department.

A Few Spot Actions in the Centre of the Country:
In Centre-West, some interchanges may still be occasionally impacted on the A10," also specifies Vinci Autoroutes. These are those at Château-Renault (No. 18), Tours Nord (No. 19), Sainte-Maure (No. 25) south of Tours, each time in both directions. The A7 interchange at Valence-Romans (Isère) is also blocked, and the RN10 is closed after Angoulême (Charente) and at Poitiers Sud (Vienne).In Burgundy, blockades have led to the closure of exits 21 Nitry and 22 Avallon on the A6, signals APRR. On the A19, the company also reports "the closure of diffuser No. 2 Paron Saint-Valérien and the entry ramps of diffuser No. 1 Saint-Denis-lès-Sens." In the Rhône-Alpes region, no blockades were disrupting travel on the roads this Saturday.]

[Secondary reading: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/12/19/farmers-dump-manure-macron-holiday-home-trade-deal/]