Police in southern France on Friday led veterinarians to a farm to cull a herd of cows suffering from a potentially fatal disease, French news agency AFP reports.
Protests broke out in recent days over the order to kill cows on a farm in a village in the Ariz area. Farmers tried to save more than 200 cows who had lumpy dermatitis, commonly known as lumpy skin disease.
France is tightening rules to deal with the disease outbreak. The French government said culling, vaccination campaigns and restrictions on cattle movement are necessary to stop the disease.
Officials said affected farmers would be offered psychological support.
What happened in the protest?
The protesters had been protesting outside the farm for two days before the murder. Dozens of them stayed to block fields in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Ariz after dark on Thursday.
Some farmers and supporters, who consider the killing order excessive and cruel, had earlier cut down trees and set up barricades to prevent veterinary staff from entering.
On Thursday night, security forces said they had used tear gas to disperse protests, while protesters threw stones, branches and other makeshift missiles and bales of hay were burning in the background.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said four people had been arrested in the clashes.
Local officials said the brothers who owned the farm were in favor of culling the herd as a precaution against the disease. But protesters disputed this statement, with the head of the union leading the protest saying that one of the two brothers was against the slaughter.
“They are tearing this family apart,” said Pierre-Guillaume Mercadal of the local Rural Confederation union.
Why is France killing cows?
Lumpy skin disease has been detected in France since June. French officials say the outbreak is under control thanks to a mass vaccination program.
In Ariège, about 3,000 of the region’s 33,000 cattle have been vaccinated.
This disease spread by insects does not spread to humans, but can be fatal for cattle. Infected cows develop blisters and reduced milk production.
This year some cases have been reported in Italy and Spain.
In 2012 the outbreak spread from the Middle East to Greece, Bulgaria and the Balkans and was stopped by the vaccination programme.
Edited by: Carl Sexton