"As of today, and for as long as necessary, a certain number of actions will be carried out," warned Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA, France's largest farmers' union, on French radio on Monday, January 22, as Farmers in France are protesting against what they consider to be excessive regulation, mounting costs and other problems.

One of the focal points of this mobilization is the A64 tolled freeway in southwestern France. It has been blocked since last Thursday. The government, trying to calm tensions, announced the postponement of its draft agriculture bill by "a few weeks."

The spreading demonstrations were hit by tragedy Tuesday when a woman was killed and her husband and daughter seriously injured in a traffic collision at a protest barricade.