French police have spoken of more than 1,300 tractors crowding some of Paris' most heavily traveled roads. Legions of angry French agriculturists are protesting falling prices for milk and other goods and high taxes.

France is no stranger to disruptive, showy protests and Thursday's massive farmer demonstration was no exception.

Thousands of angry agriculturists rode into central Paris on tractors emblazoned with slogans like, "Our charges are killing us" - a reference to financial pressures they say are compounded by high labor costs and shrinking returns for milk and meat.

They traveled at an average speed of 22 mph, or 35 kph, bringing traffic to a crawl in some places, although many commuters heeded authorities' advice to leave their cars at home and take public transportation.

"There are not many traffic jams caused by the protesters. It's limited," a spokesman for Paris' traffic information center told Agence France-Presse.

The congestion, however minimal, marked the culmination of a week-long journey for some farmers, who trekked to Paris from all reaches of the country. French media reported that the first farmers to begin trickling into the city came from Brittany, some 282.7 miles away - a 13-hour drive by tractor.

Police said they counted more than 1,300 protesters driving their farm equipment into town, while the demonstration's organizers spoke of more than 1,700.

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