French farmers angry over low prices turned back hundreds of trucks at the German border Monday, looking for cargoes of foreign meat and milk products.
An Associated Press photographer at the German frontier saw farmers stopping refrigerated trucks to verify their contents Monday, and one of the protest’s organizers said 300 trucks had been turned back since the morning. Other vehicles were allowed to cross freely.
Police in France tend to avoid intervening in peaceful protests, and French President Francois Hollande on Monday said he backed the farmers and called for a highlevel meeting of European agricultural officials.
“Between now and then, we will continue to pressure, so that the farmers are certain, protests or not, that we are at their side,” he said.
German Agriculture Ministry spokesman Jens Urban declined to comment on the protest but said he didn’t think it was leading to a total stoppage of German agricultural exports to France.
The farmers also blocked the Spanish and German border highways Sunday as part of an ongoing protest against low prices caused by cheap imports and pressure from grocery chains that have put about 10 percent of livestock farms on the verge of bankruptcy, according to the government.
The French government last week offered a $654 million agricultural plan to back loans and delay tax payments for farmers, who say that is not enough.
France cannot give direct financial aid under European Union rules.