Torrents of wine soaked the streets of France today as protesters destroyed their competitors’ imports.
Countless crates of booze were smashed up in protest as furious French winemakers hit out at their Spanish neighbours’ cheaper offerings that they say is undermining their livelihoods.
The French grape growers intercepted trucks carrying the Spanish booze at Le Boulou tollbooth, which is 10 miles from France’s border with Spain.
Several wine shipments were destroyed as gallons of wine flowed, wasted, onto the Tarmac, reports MailOnline.
One protester took to a truck with a sledgehammer showing his total rage at the perceived injustice. There were also fires as other demonstrators lit crates and tyres and sent black plumes into the skies.
Frederic Rouanet, the president of a local syndicate of winemakers who organised the protest, said the demonstration comes as part of the “economic war against economic criminals who abuse ruined winegrowers.”
He added: “We are going to take away the possibility of being able to import foreign wines.”
The demonstration comes two months after French media reported that the government is set to pour away millions of litres of wine and rip up vineyards in an attempt to reverse tumbling prices amid falling sales.
Production of wine has continued to rise in France which has led to a mass of unsold wine, meaning a plummet in prices.
It’s not the first time that angry French wine growers have unleashed their competitor’s booze in protest.
In 2016 a military group called the Regional Action Committee of Winemakers claimed responsibility for the flooding the streets with 50,000 litres of wine in the Mediterranean port of Sète in southern France.
One of its members told French television the drinks market is unfair.
They said: ”This wine is coming in at prices that defy any competition. We don’t stand a chance. It just can’t continue like this.”
