Occitan farmers of la Piège in the Lauragais area take action during the Tour de France on 24 July

Why did the Occitan farmers of la Piège in the Lauragais area (south-east of Toulouse) take action during the Tour de France on 24 July?

Last Tuesday, Occitan farmers, close to the Confédération Paysanne ( A left-wing French farmers’ union) and flying Occitan flags, briefly blocked the 16th stage of the Tour de France.

They chose this mode of action because the passage of the Tour de France, attracts crowds,  media attention and is an excellent means for them to make their demands heard. Otherwise  they wouldn’t be.

The Occitan Nation Party denounces the attitude of the French media who only filmed the cyclists forced to stop and inconvenienced by tear gas from the police.

Tear gas was used to disperse the demonstrators, with their haystacks and sheep, and clear the way.

This action by farmers, which was denounced by Laurent Jalabert, an Occitan from Tarn and former professional cyclist, and the media as unacceptable, is entirely legitimate according to the Occitan Nation Party.

The farmers of la Piège, like many of their colleagues in other Occitan regions, wanted to denounce the European reform of the "less-favoured areas" and, more specifically, to challenge the bureaucratic and unjustified downscaling of their area from valley to lowland area, which would deprive them of European subsidies.

The agriculture minister who was supposed to meet them in Carcassonne did not even turn up.

The Tour started back but the problems of the farmers, in particular the setting up of young people as farmers, remain unsolved.

The Occitan Nation Party stands in full solidarity, with the farmers.

The Occitan Nation Party believes that if we had regions with real powers, they would be in a better position than Paris to negotiate with the European Union  the amount of subsidies under the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and to redistribute them more wisely.

The Occitan Nation Party asserts that French statism, in agriculture as in all fields, is contrary to the interests of Occitans.

Occitans should be able to make their own decisions at home.

action during the Tour de France on 24 July