French bakers staged a protest on Monday, January 23. They marched on the streets of Paris to protest against energy costs and to demand more financial aid that would compensate for the steep increase in electricity and raw material costs, including flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Calling for ‘tariff caps for all’, the Collective for the Survival of Bakers and Crafts led a procession of bakers from Place de la Nation, in the east of the capital to the Finance Ministry in Bercy, rfi reports.
Bakers are not among the small French businesses that were granted protection by government-imposed tariff caps on energy prices. Households benefit from a 15% tariff cap granted by the government. Protesters complained that their monthly bills have multiplied by up to 10 times the normal amount, local news outlets reported.
“There have been significant increases in the cost of raw materials since September, while electricity bills have already closed down the most fragile businesses,” co-founder of the collective, Frederic Roy, told Sud Radio.
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