Protesting farmers blocked several roads across France on Wednesday, set bales of hay alight and sprayed liquid manure at a local prefecture to press the government to loosen regulations and help protect them from cheap imports and rising costs.
They complain that retailers are pressuring their prices lower in response to public complaints about rising food prices.
Farmers said the protests, with long lines of tractors snarling roads, would continue as long as their demands are not met, posing the first major challenge for new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
In Germany, protestors have blocked ports over angry reaction to a reduction in tax breaks.
In the southwestern French city of Agen, famous for its dried prunes, angry farmers set fire to bales of hay, old tyres and rubbish they had dumped in front of the wrought-iron gates of the prefecture, which represents the central state locally, reported Reuters news agency.
One truck sprayed liquid manure as dozens of police stood by without intervening, footage by BFM TV showed. Moments later, another truck lifted burning tyres and rubbish over the high gates and dumped it in the prefecture courtyard.
Fearing a spillover from farmer unrest in Germany, Poland and Romania, the French government has already postponed a draft farming law meant to help more people become farmers, saying it will beef up the measures and ease some regulations.
The government will soon make proposals, its spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot said earlier in the day, without giving details.
President Emmanuel Macron is also wary of farmers' growing support for the far right ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
