Spreading demonstrations by French farmers against low wages and other grievances were hit by tragedy Tuesday when a woman was killed and her husband and daughter injured in a crash at a protest barricade, authorities said.
A prosecutor, Franck Rastoul, told public radio France Bleu Occitanie that the three people were hit by a car and that investigators are working to determine whether the collision was deliberate.
It happened before dawn at the site of a farmers’ protest in Pamiers, a town in the Ariège region of southwestern France, regional authorities posted on social media. Broadcaster BFM showed that the road had been blocked with straw bales and tractors.The woman who was killed as well as her husband and daughter were members of the FNSEA union of agricultural workers, the union president, Arnaud Rousseau, said on RMC radio.
Farmers have for months been protesting for better pay and against what they consider to be excessive regulation, mounting costs and other problems.