San Francisco Frontiers - Farmers enter Paris on tractors to rage against trade deal

Dozens of tractors arrived before dawn and drove through Paris, with some pausing at the Eiffel Tower and others at the Arc de Triomphe, in a protest organised by the Rural Confederation union.

"We said we'd come up to Paris -- here we are," said Ludovic Ducloux, co-head of one of the union's chapters.

One of the tractors bore the message "No To Mercosur", referring to the deal with four South American nations.

The deal would create one of the world's biggest free-trade areas and help the 27-nation EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America.

But farmers fear being undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.

"We're not here to cause trouble," Damien Cornier, a 49-year-old farmer from the northwest Eure region, told AFP.

"We just want to work and make a living from our profession."

Rural Confederation (CR) president Bertrand Venteau told AFP the farmers would peacefully demonstrate at symbolic Parisian sites, even if it meant they ended up in police custody.

French policymakers have contributed to the "death of French agriculture over the past 30 years", the union president later told Europe 1 radio.

A demonstration was planned in front of French parliament's lower house at 10:00 am (0900 GMT).

But a government spokeswoman on Thursday warned against any "illegal" actions, saying French authorities would "not stand by".

Blocking a motorway or "attempting to gather in front of the National Assembly with all the symbolism that this entails is once again illegal", Maud Bregeon told France Info Radio.

-'Gates of the capital'-

In the early hours of Thursday, a small number of tractors briefly parked near the Eiffel Tower and more reached the Arc de Triomphe.

There were 100 tractors in the Paris region, the interior ministry told AFP earlier on Thursday, but "most are blocked at the gates of the capital".

In another protest near the southwestern city of Bordeaux, about 40 farm vehicles blocked access to a fuel depot, according to the local authorities.

As well as the trade deal, the farmers are also upset over a government decision to cull cows in response to the spread of nodular dermatitis, a bovine sickness widely known as lumpy skin disease.

At the end of last month, President Emmanuel Macron met farmers to discuss the trade pact and the cull.

During earlier protests, farmers blocked roads, sprayed manure and dumped garbage in front of government offices.

Belgian farmers have also staged mass protests against the trade deal, rolling some 1,000 tractors into Brussels in December.

- Italy support -

More than 25 years in the making, the Mercosur accord would boost trade between the EU and the bloc including Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.

Plans to seal the deal at a gathering in Brazil on December 20 ran into a late roadblock as heavyweights Italy and France demanded a postponement over concerns for the farming sector.

Germany and Spain are strongly in favour of the agreement, believing it will provide a welcome boost to their industries, hampered by Chinese competition and tariffs in the United States.

But Rome and Paris have called for tougher safeguard clauses, tighter import controls and more stringent standards on Mercosur producers to protect their farmers.

However, Italy hailed the benefits of the agreement on Tuesday and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the country had "always supported the conclusion of the deal".

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W.Carter--SFF