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Farmers block Paris' Champs-Elysees, burn hay
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-16 16:30

PARIS: French farmers angry over financial woes have blocked the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris and set hay ablaze.

Farmers block Paris' Champs-Elysees, burn hay
Farmers demonstrate on the Champs Elysee in Paris by burning tires and straw, Friday Oct. 16, 2009. Farmers blocked off the famous avenue to protest grain prices that have fallen below the cost of production. Signs read: 'Angry farmers' and 'Cereal growers on the straw'. [Agencies]Farmers block Paris' Champs-Elysees, burn hay

About 150 farmers from rural regions of France spread hay and piled tires across the wide street lined with high-end shops before setting them on fire. Firefighters quickly put out the flames.

Farmers are staging protests around the country Friday to call attention to their difficulties, made worse as food prices have fallen from record highs in 2007. Protests disrupted traffic on highways from Toulouse in southern France to Moselle in the northeast.

Jean-Michel Lemetayer, the head of farmers' union FNSEA, appealed to the government for a "major emergency plan" including tax cuts to help French farmers compete with European rivals.