September 18, 2009
SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) — A French farmers' union says it dumped three tons of milk and a ton of cow dung inside a bank in southern France to protest the way banks make better profits than dairy farmers do.
The APLI milk producers' union says farmers forced open the front door of a Credit Agricole bank branch in the small town of Boen-sur-Lignon, pouring the milk and dung into the reception hall.
Thierry Derory, one of the participants in Thursday's action, says the move is aimed at "denouncing how banks grow wealthy on the peasants' misery."
The union says farmers in this mountainous area aren't paid enough for their milk, obtained in difficult conditions. They did not specify how this was the bank's fault, though the Credit Agricole is the main money lender in rural France.
Farmers around Europe are dumping milk in protests to call attention to sagging milk prices and a plan to phase out milk quotas. The EU Farm Commissioner responded Thursday by offering extra help to dairy farmers.
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