Thousands of trucks blocked highways and roads across France on Saturday to protest a planned environmental tax, which sparked fierce opposition and riots last month in Brittany. The Interior Ministry said some 2,000 trucks took part in the protests across the country, while a transport union put the count at 4,000 vehicles.
In Paris, where an estimated 230 vehicles were part of the demonstration, trucks lined up, their warning lights flashing as drivers honked. Protesters held posters that read: "We are not sheep," and "Down with the toll." While the protests were concentrated in the region around Paris, the cities of Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen and Lille were also affected.
The ecological tax, which was to come into effect in 2014 on vehicles of more than 3.5 tons, has been put on ice by the Socialist government of President Francois Hollande. But protesters demand that it be abolished altogether. In recent weeks, demonstrators in Brittany protesting layoffs and rising taxes set toll bridges on fire and clashed with police.
Food producers in Brittany, one of France's food baskets, complained the tax would squeeze their already wafer-thin profit margins and would come on top of plant closures that have already taken place in their industry. Hollande has seen his popularity ratings drop to the lowest any French president has seen in the past half century in part because of the tax hikes implemented by his government. They have amounted to 70 billion euros (95 million dollars) in the past three years.
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