Earlier in the day, farmers blocked an intersection at the entrance to Toulouse-Blagnac airport and lit a fire there. Videos published by the Depeche newspaper show several dozen tractors surrounding the intersection, while farmers are piling up straw and tires and setting them on fire. A column of black smoke rose into the sky. Firefighters later had to intervene to put out the flare.
"Access to the airport is blocked through the main entrance. You can't get through there; protesters are burning tires. It is necessary to choose detour routes and allow more time for the commute," an airport spokesperson said.
The northern entrance through the mall remains accessible, the spokesperson specified, adding that the protesters were likely to stay near the airport for the whole day.
"Yesterday, protesting taxi drivers left by 05:00 p.m. We expect it to be about the same [today]. So, difficulties with accessing the airport will last the whole day. But all planes are departing on schedule, no cancellations are expected," the spokesperson added.
There are police patrols around the protesting farmers, the airport spokesperson also stated.
On Monday, the entrance to the airport was also blocked by several hundred taxi drivers protesting against a new law on medical transportation which obliges them to take several passengers at once, negatively affecting their earnings.
Meanwhile, French farmers who were blocked on the highway to Paris by police armored vehicles managed to bypass them, but they are unlikely to reach Europe's largest food market, Rungis, located near the capital, co-president of the Rural Coordination trade union of the Lot-et-Garonne department Jose Perez told BFMTV.
Farmers' unions initially planned to "besiege" Paris by blocking two major airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, as well as the Rungis food market on the capital's outskirts.
On Sunday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 15,000 police officers would be mobilized in the capital region to prevent tractors from entering Paris, adding that the planned "occupation" of the food market and the airports was a red line for the government, and warning that the police would use armored vehicles and helicopters to protect them.