PROTESTING farmers encircled Paris with tractor barricades in a “siege” of the French capital today, using their vehicles to block highways leading to the city.

The targeting of Paris — host of the Summer Olympics in six months’ time — and elsewhere in France comes amid similar action across Europe as farmers demand fairer European Union regulations for their work.

French farmers said they aim to stop food deliveries to supermarkets, saying they feel ignored by government ministers they accuse of rarely venturing to farms for fear of getting their shoes dirty.