SAINT-ARNOULT-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) - Farmers blocked roads around Paris with tractors on Thursday in a protest against rising taxes, adding to President Francois Hollande's troubles as surprising new data showed France risks slipping into a new recession.
Anger at taxation is growing and sometimes violent protests in recent weeks have been aimed especially at a planned levy on road freight which trade unions in agriculture and the food industry say will cost thousands of jobs at a time when French unemployment remains stuck at 11 percent.