Farmers block Paris' Champs-Elysees

French farmers angry over financial woes today blocked the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris and set hay on fire.

About 150 farmers from rural regions of France spread hay and piled tyres across the wide street lined with upmarket shops before setting them on fire.

Firefighters quickly put out the flames.

Farmers are staging protests around the country today to call attention to their difficulties, made worse as food prices have fallen from record highs in 2007.

Protests disrupted traffic on highways from Toulouse in southern France to Moselle in the north-east.

Jean-Michel Lemetayer, the head of farmers’ union FNSEA, appealed to the government for a “major emergency plan” including tax cuts to help French farmers compete with European rivals.