Angry French farmers yesterday blocked the famed Mont Saint-Michel causeway and roads leading to the Alps to denounce low milk and meat prices.

The farmers used tyres, tractors and tree trunks to block roads. Mont Saint-Michel, in the Normandy region, is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The protests were prompted by alleged deception over the government offer to back loans to the farmers and delay tax payments as part of a 600 million plan.

Farmers say their margins are being chipped away by cheap imports and pressure from retail chains.

The main farmers’ union, the FNSEA, warned that other protests “will probably happen in the next two to three days”. Low prices have left about 10 per cent of livestock farms on the verge of bankruptcy, the government said.

Mont Saint-Michel, in the Normandy region, is a Unesco World Heritage Site

The farmers blocked three major roads around the city of Lyon, with traffic queuing for about 24 kilometres.

Some roads in western France, a region with many milk and pork farms, were also jammed.

Xavier Beulin, president of the FNSEA, said farmers “need to express their anger”.

He also told Europe 1 radio that he is willing to work with the government on “long-term and mid-term solutions”.

President François Hollande met with some farmers and union officials today in the city of Dijon, in the Burgundy region.

“We want supermarket chains to make the necessary effort to pay the farmers,” he said.

French farmers often resort to spectacular protests to make their demands heard.

This weekend, many French people will take to the roads to start their summer holidays.