Are farmer in france spraying governement building with manures

1. What happened, in plain sight

Over recent days tractors, hay bales and convoys of farmers have blockaded roads and staged demonstrations that in several towns included spraying liquid manure across the façades and courtyards of prefectures and other local government buildings — specific incidents were reported in Millau and Agen and widespread activity was recorded across the south-west of France ^{[1] [4] [5]}.

2. Why farmers went to that extreme

The immediate trigger is government-backed compulsory culling of cattle when Lumpy Skin Disease is detected; many farmers object to whole-herd slaughters and demand alternative measures such as mass vaccination, arguing the culls threaten livelihoods — that dispute is the explicit rationale behind the blockades and the manure protests ^{[2] [4]}.

3. Who is organising and who backs them

Hard-line unions such as Coordination Rurale and regional groups like ELB called and expanded protests, while the largest union FNSEA has been more mixed or sometimes supportive of government measures — that split matters because it shows the protests are driven by specific constituencies within farming, not a unanimous sector-wide decision ^{[1] [5]}.

4. How widespread and sustained the tactics are

Photographic coverage and wire reporting indicate the tactics are not isolated one-off acts: AFP and several outlets documented multiple prefectures being targeted, main routes blocked, hay bales set alight and manure dumped or sprayed in different departments over several days, and organisers vowed further blockades ^{[3] [5] [1]}.

5. Law enforcement and escalation risk

Reporting shows police have sometimes intervened — clashes and the use of tear gas were reported during attempts to clear demonstrators protecting cattle during culls — but in images of manure spraying police presence is visible while confrontations vary by location, underlining the potential for escalation between demonstrators and state actors ^{[1] [6]}.

6. Precedent and broader context

This is not a novel tactic for French farmers: earlier national protests have seen government offices showered with manure and tractors used to besiege cities, a pattern documented in earlier waves of farming unrest (AP’s 2024 coverage noted similar actions) which frames the current events as part of a recurring repertoire of rural protest ^[7].

7. Media, messaging and disinformation risks

While mainstream outlets and AFP photo agencies report the manure-spraying, several smaller or politically slanted outlets republished the events with hyperbolic framing; some partisan or state-affiliated outlets (e.g., Pravda) amplify imagery and rhetoric in ways that may push broader geopolitical narratives, so consumers should weigh primary photographic evidence and wire reports over retweets or commentary pieces ^{[8] [9]}.

8. What reporting does not (yet) establish

Open-source reporting confirms multiple incidents and organized calls for action, but available items do not quantify precisely how many buildings nationwide were sprayed, how many farmers participated in every location, or whether any formal legal cases have been opened against named individuals; those gaps remain because the coverage focuses on scenes, union statements and government reactions rather than exhaustive incident tallies ^{[1] [3] [5]}.

9. Bottom line

The factual record in contemporary wire reports and photographs supports the direct claim: protesters have indeed sprayed manure on government buildings as part of coordinated farmer demonstrations against compulsory cattle culls, primarily concentrated in southern and southwestern France; the tactic is part of wider, escalating protests with mixed union backing and carries both political symbolism and practical disruption ^{[1] [2] [4]}.