A farmer was killed, and her husband and teenage daughter were seriously injured, after being run over on Tuesday January 23 at dawn on a farmers’ roadblock in Ariège, Agence France has learned. Press (AFP) from corroborating sources. In a press release, the Ariège prefecture reported “one deceased person” and “two seriously injured” in “a serious traffic accident” which occurred at 5:45 a.m. “at the RD 119 bridge » in Pamiers “on the scene of the agricultural demonstration”.

According to a police source, a “car drove into the dam for an unknown reason”. A woman “in her thirties” died, while the seriously injured were a “man in her forties” and a “minor”, according to the same source, which specifies that the “three victims were found on the dam”.

A judicial investigation has been opened for “aggravated manslaughter and aggravated injuries”, announced the Foix prosecutor, Olivier Mouysset, in a press release. “The three occupants of the motor vehicle were taken into custody and will be questioned very quickly,” he confirmed, announcing that “investigations are continuing to determine the exact circumstances of the commission of the facts.”

For the moment, the first elements collected allow the court to affirm that “the facts in question do not appear to be of an intentional nature”. The vehicle traveling in the Toulouse-Andorra direction, “with a couple and one of their friends on board, all three of foreign nationality, took national road 20, despite the system put in place to prohibit access”.

“While traveling on the double track, their vehicle hit, in the middle of the night, and with no public lighting nearby, a wall of straw bales (…) The vehicle then hit three people, before ending its course against the trailer of ‘a tractor,’ the prosecutor explained.

The prefect of Ariège, Simon Bertoux, for his part, announced the lifting of the blockade “out of respect for the family”. “There will no longer be a dam in Ariège,” he continued during a press conference.

Need to “respect safety instructions”

“The Ariège firefighters immediately went to the scene, joined by the Ariège emergency medical aid service, which engaged a mobile emergency and resuscitation structure,” detailed the prefecture. , specifying that “the prefect went to the scene of the accident with the sub-prefect”, while “a departmental operational center [was] activated”, and that “a psychological support cell [was] been] implemented”.

A little earlier, the president of the main agricultural union, at the origin of the mobilization, had announced the death of the farmer at the microphone of RMC. “I have just learned that a road accident happened in Ariège at Pamiers and that three of our members suffered a serious accident” near a blockage point, declared Arnaud Rousseau.

“In the particular moment that agriculture is going through, this kind of tragedy is difficult to live with,” continued Mr. Rousseau. The accident “underlines the need for us to be perfectly organized, to ensure that we respect safety instructions, because what is important for us is to get our messages across,” he said. also pointed out, calling “everyone to calm and reason and to ensure that this anger is expressed with respect for property and people”.

The mobilization will last “as long as it takes” according to the FNSEA

French farmers have been demonstrating their discontent for several days, notably through road blockages, to demand measures ranging from administrative simplification to faster compensation in the event of calamities.

The mobilization can last “a day”, “a week” or “as long as it takes for the answers to be provided”, declared the president of the FNSEA on Tuesday. “We learn every minute that new blocking points are opening,” added Arnaud Rousseau.

According to feedback from farmers on the ground, there will be “blockages which will be spread out throughout the week, continuously or sporadically depending on the location”, further clarified the head of the first agricultural union. French, affirming that all departments will be concerned. “Things will be done in a sequenced manner to continue to show that this is not just a bout of fever but a serious issue,” he added.

Monday evening, the president of the FNSEA met for two hours with the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, who committed to making announcements “during the week”, alongside Arnaud Gaillot, president of Young Farmers.

“We will not lift the roadblocks until the Prime Minister has made very concrete announcements,” Mr. Gaillot also declared Tuesday on RTL, adding: “We have no interest in the movement lasting in time and gets bogged down (…). Farmers have farms to run, they have other things to do. » Asked about the possibility of blocking Paris, Arnaud Gaillot felt that this was not “the goal”, because “if it comes to that, it will become tiring”. But “if necessary, potentially we will think about it and we will do it,” he added.

New locking axes

The movement spreads on Tuesday with new blockages on major roads. Around 4 a.m., “around thirty tractors with trailers containing bales of straw and slurry” notably blocked traffic on the A7 in both directions, near Saint-Rambert-d’Albon, a town located between Lyon and Valence, according to the Drôme prefecture.

In the South-West, two new blockages also appeared at an entrance to the A64 motorway in Pau and on the A63 near Bayonne, according to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture.

In Agen, farmers are still blocking the A62 on Tuesday, where they took up position with dozens of tractors on Monday afternoon. They requested an audience with the prefect of Lot-et-Garonne, who agreed to receive them. Rail traffic also remains disrupted, the X TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine account reported on Tuesday morning, after farmers dumped tires on the tracks the previous evening.