Defiant French farmer who sprayed travellers with manure fears ‘reprisals' as he speaks out after slurry stunt
FIGHTING DIRTY Defiant French farmer who sprayed travellers with manure fears 'reprisals' as he speaks out after slurry stunt
A FRENCH farmer who sprayed manure at a group of travellers camped on his land now says he fears "reprisals".
Shocking footage shows farmers using tractors to douse dozens of white caravans with liquid fertilizer on a field in the Vosges region of north-east France.
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Furious French farmers spray manure on travellers squatting on their farm
Credit: YouTube
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French farmers have used similar tactics before in protest
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The group was heading to a religious festival in Grostenquin
Credit: YouTube
Pierre Richard, 37, set about spraying liquid manure on a group who had set up camp without permission on his family farm near the village of Le Syndicat.
The field, passed down through five generations, is used to grow hay for Pierre's 50 dairy cows.
He claims police told him there was nothing they could do about the situation, forcing him to take matters in his own hands.
As the tractors approached, people inside the caravans were seen running away.
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The group was reportedly en route to Grostenquin - about 90 minutes from the Luxembourg-France border - for an annual evangelical festival.
The furious farmer told the Mail Online: "I'd simply had enough. They want us to simply shut our mouths and let them squat on our land. But this year I refused."
He claimed that the 250 caravans ignored a designated traveller site nearby.
Pierre said: "They preferred to stay here on my land. It's a beautiful place, in the mountains, next to a river, and with fresh green grass.
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"They arrived at about 8pm on a Sunday night. When I heard they were there I went down there, but it was too late.
"They had broken through the barriers and set up camp, hundreds of them.
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"The following day I went to the police, but they said there was nothing they could do.
"So, on the Tuesday we went out with the tractors and sprayed the rest of the prairie with slurry to make sure no more of them would come.
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"As you can see from the footage, we stayed a minimum of 10 metres from the caravans."
Pierre said he now feared "reprisals" from the people living in the encampment.
The religious event, organised by the evangelical group Vie et Lumière ('Life and Light'), is scheduled for August 24 and 31, at the Grostenquin airbase.
Around 5,000 caravans and between 15,000 to 20,000 people are expected to attend, according to regional news outlet Actu.fr.
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The return of the event has reportedly sparked controversy, with some local officials calling it "unacceptable" and farmers claiming it affects their work during the busy late-summer season.
However, rights groups argue that this reflects long-standing discrimination against the travelling community in France.
It comes as another French farmer, Loic Madre, shared a video online showing a similar protest.
He claimed that he sprayed the encampment of travellers with manure on his farm as police did not act.
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In the one-minute clip, up to six tractors can be seen spraying slurry - a mix of manure and water - across the field.
Last year, Brit farmer Jack Bellamy used the same method after discovering a camper van parked on his land.
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