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The Sun
6 days ago
- The Sun
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. 4 4 4 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. 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. "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. Farmer who found lost German backpacker in Outback reveals moment she found the tourist who 'slept in a cave to survive' "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. "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 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. 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. 4
News.com.au
06-08-2025
- News.com.au
Victory for farmers who used tractors to spray squatters with manure
French farmers who sprayed manure at squatters invading their land celebrated a major victory after a court ordered the intruders to be evicted. Agricultural workers from Le Syndicat, in the Hautes-Vosges region of eastern France, feared prosecution after they sprayed a mixture of faeces and water across their farmland to push out the invaders, as reported by The Sun. Astonishing footage showed the furious farmers using tractors to spray the slurry across their agricultural field where the caravans were parked. The squatters, who parked their campers illegally, were seen battling to stop the onslaught of stinking faeces as the tractors chased them down. The farmers said they were driven to breaking point after police refused to step in and remove the 'illegal gypsy camp' residing on their land. With harvest due in just a few weeks – and the squatters refusing to leave – they finally decided to take matters into their own hands. The farmers told The Sun that a judge on Wednesday ordered up to 500 members of a 'travelling community of gypsies' to evict the encampment. 'It is a major victory for us. A civil court decision went in our favour,' one of the farmers, Francois, 64, said. 'The travellers were told to move out within 24 hours, or else face police intervention and fines. 'Around 500 of them, travelling in about 200 caravans, all left.' Loic Madre, the man who shot the video, claimed the travellers moved onto the field – meant for animals to graze on – without permission. To the farmers' delight, France's Interior Ministry said tighter controls on travelling communities would be introduced in the autumn. 'These measures aim, in particular, to increase prison sentences for illegal settlement involving acts of destruction, degradation, or deterioration, and harm to the natural environment,' an Interior Ministry spokesperson said. 'Some 20 measures will be outlined in a legislative package that will be put to parliament in September.' Travellers parking their caravans in any field they come across is viewed as a major problem across Europe, including in Britain. The squatters at Hautes-Vosges fought back against the farmers, attacking the tractor drivers and forming human chains to try and hold them up. One man was filmed jumping onto a moving tractor and frantically knocking on the driver's window. 'The tractors almost knocked us over,' Olivier, the spokesperson for the Action Grand Passage Association, which campaigns for traveller rights, said. 'All we want is a place to stay for a few days, but these cowboys are stopping us.' Last year, a similar tactic was adopted by British farmer Jack Bellamy when he caught a camper on his land. Shocking footage showed an angry Mr Bellamy spotting the tent and saying, 'I tell you what, these ***** will set up anywhere.' He then jumped in his tractor and drove up alongside the trespasser, unleashing a 15-second blast of stinking slurry.
