Jérôme Bayle, the farmer behind the Carbonne dam, decided to lift the blockade after Gabriel Attal’s announcements on Friday January 26. He has since been widely criticized.
One of the leaders of the agricultural movement has been heavily criticized since Friday January 26. Jérôme Bayle, cattle breeder in Haute-Garonne, decided to lift the Carbonne dam after the announcements by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Friday January 26. According to many Internet users, he would have abandoned the protest and would be a “traitor”. In a video, we see the farmer sitting next to the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu during Gabriel Attal’s speech. In the extract, widely relayed on social networks, Jérôme Bayle gives a small piece of paper to the minister. Some Internet users claim that the farmer’s RIB was written on this paper, insinuating that the man would be in collusion with the government.
A theory quickly denied by the breeder. “Contrary to what people think, it’s not my RIB. I hope you don’t think I’m stupid enough to believe that I’m capable of giving my RIB directly. (…) on this paper, it was the phone number of a person who wrote to me. She is in a complicated situation, it was to see if the government could help her,” he explains on BFMTV. Jérôme Bayle also claims to have refused a position because of his silence.
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau denies on Sunday January 28 having offered “anything” to the farmer, because “the government does not work like that”. He believes that “the attacks made on Jérôme Bayle are disgusting”. According to the minister, “he is someone who sincerely defends his profession”.