A woman who grows food on a farm died, and her husband and teenage daughter were injured in a car crash while farmers in France were protesting.
Farmers in the south-west of France have blocked important roads for several days. This area is one of the most important for farming in the country.
The local prosecutor said that it seemed like the accident near Toulouse was not on purpose.
Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said it was a “very sad event for everyone”.
Tuesday’s accident happened when farmers in France started blocking roads more after a meeting with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. The meeting was about their concerns with new environmental rules and higher energy prices.
The car hit some straw bales and hit three people while driving on the main road near Pamiers, 70km south of Toulouse, when it was still dark on Tuesday morning.
The woman who passed away was known as a person who raised and took care of cows. Officials said her husband was badly hurt and her 14-year-old daughter’s condition was very concerning.
The authorities detained all three people in the car. They were driving from Toulouse to Andorra, which is another two hours south.
An investigation has started into a serious crime, but the local prosecutor thinks it may not have been on purpose.
The farmer who died was in a farmers’ union called FNSEA. The president of the union, Arnaud Rousseau, said it is hard to deal with this tragedy at a time when French agriculture is facing many problems.
“I want to let the people on the ground know that French farmers fully support them. ”
The farmers’ protests are spreading all over France. The leader of the Young Farmers union, Arnaud Gaillot, said he has never seen so many determined people. “If we have to, we will block off Paris. ” “Some of our members have nothing left to lose, their survival is in danger,” he told RTL radio.
Trucks and tractors stopped the A7 motorway in southeast France. One of the vehicles had the words “we’re dying to feed you” written in red on it.
The newest protests began in the south-western part last week. Even though it’s a very important area for farming, the FNSEA says that farmers here earn the least amount of money compared to other farmers.
They are already being called “green jackets”, a name referring to the gilets jaunes protests in France against high fuel prices.
Last week, more than 400 tractors blocked the middle of Toulouse, where about 800,000 people live. Farmers also blocked some important highways in the south west by setting up places to sleep in the middle of the roads.
The French interior minister said on Monday that he will not tell the police to break up the blockades because he knows the situation is very sensitive politically.
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