On Thursday, Spanish farmers intensified their demonstrations over rising costs, bureaucracy and low-price competition from outside the European Union, driving tractors across the city’s roads and causing traffic chaos.
The country’s three main farmers’ organizations are supporting the protests, which broke out on their own on Tuesday after spreading to neighboring EU countries.
Protesters in the northern city of Vitoria rang cowbells in front of the Basque regional parliament, which was guarded by police in riot gear.
In Barcelona’s city center, a large number of tractors with drivers were encamped surrounding the local council.
Traffic disruptions occurred in small cities across the country, including Avila in the center and Antequera in the south.
Spanish farmers joined those in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, where demonstrations have sometimes turned violent.
Farmers around the EU argue that environmental protection regulations make them less competitive than farmers elsewhere. They also claim that red tape and taxes are strangling them.
Complaints about unfair competition have been exacerbated by large imports from Ukraine, which the EU has exempted from quotas and levies since the Russian invasion, and by ongoing talks to strike a trade deal between the EU and South American group Mercosur. I’m being provoked.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said 12 people were detained by police during Wednesday’s protests, including the blockade of several large warehouses used to distribute goods. Retail associations and the government do not foresee any imminent food shortages.
The blockage reportedly affected more than 80,000 trucks, according to the FENADISMER Transport Federation.
Spanish farmers have blocked roads, ports and boulevards in Barcelona and other cities since Tuesday. It also called at Malaga and Castellon.
The government responded to the protests by handing out additional subsidies worth up to 269 million euros ($290 million) to up to 140,000 farmers, while the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, announced a The proposal to halve the amount was abandoned.
(With input from agency)