Attack on Socialist party office in Carcassonne follows guerrilla actions by wine producers angry at low prices and foreign imports

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

French police are investigating a possible return to violence by so-called wine militants after a Socialist party office was hit by an explosive device in the southern city of Carcassonne.

Windows were blown out, a door damaged and part of a ceiling collapsed in the attack overnight on Thursday.

"Le Foll!!" – the surname of the Socialist agriculture minister – was spraypainted on the wall outside and the initials CAV in blue and red. CAV stands for the Comité d'Action Viticole, or winemakers' action committee.

No group had claimed the attack on Wednesday, as investigations continued.

Active mainly in the south of France, militant wine producers struggling to survive have staged guerrilla actions over the past few decades to highlight their exasperation at low prices, unfair competition, foreign imports and what they see is as not enough government support.

Their actions have included dynamiting agriculture ministry buildings, hijacking foreign wine-tankers, vandalising supermarkets, plastering graffiti on agricultural banks and pouring gallons of wine down the drain to express their plight.

In a video sent anonymously to French TV in 2007, militants in balaclavas threatened violent action if the then-president, Nicolas Sarkozy, did not take measures to help economically desperate wine growers in Languedoc-Roussillon.

The tradition of winegrowers' uprisings in the south of France centres on a famous 1907 revolt that led to the army killing six people.

Socialist party representatives in Carcassonne said they were surprised by the attack. Eric Andrieu, head of the Socialists in the Aude, told the local press it might have been a way of protesting against the recent dropping of an amendment that would have allowed wine-producers to receive 15% of payments in advance at the time of wine orders.

Stephane Le Foll, the agriculture minister, expressed "incomprehension" at the "act of violence". He insisted that he worked closely with wine producers discussing their concerns about the industry and said no demands had been made before the attack.