Several access roads to the Spanish border were blocked on Thursday by farmers on tractors, demanding stronger agricultural sectors and fair conditions, threatening to move their protests to Lisbon if their demands were not met.
The farmers’ civil movement formed the bloc a day after the government announced a more than €400 million aid package aimed at mitigating the effects of the drought and strengthening the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan (PEPAC).
Farmers began their protests early in the day, and by 7:30 a.m., several roads across the country, including the A25 in Guarda (northeast), were closed and 200 people were arrested, according to the National Republican Guard (GNR). collected. A tractor he moved between the two junctions, where farmers came from all over Beira’s interior.
In Elbaz, farmers gathered near the Caia border with Spain and threatened to take their protests to Lisbon if the government did not communicate their agricultural sector demands.
In Santarem, 100 agricultural vehicles caused traffic jams on the Chamusca Bridge, while in Beja farmers demonstrated on the National Highway 260 between Villa Verde and Ficarulho with about 45 tractors and four large vehicles. Ta.
Spanish truck drivers who were stranded at the border in Vila Verde de Ficillo in the Serpa region (southern Beja) after farmers in Alentejo cut off National Highway 260 (EN260) say they understand the protests. Only the residents remained. Option to return to base.
Demonstrators then gathered on the Chamska Bridge and moved to a new protest point with the aim of blocking traffic on Highway 23.
In the Bragança region (northeast), a group of farmers with 60 tractors gathered in Mogadouro and drove slowly along National Highway (EN) 221 to the border.
In Coimbra (east-east), hundreds of tractors and agricultural machinery were slowly driving along National Route (EN) 111 towards downtown Coimbra, and protest organizers said that by the end of the morning, 500 I was hoping for a crowd of cars.
By midday, Agriculture Minister María do Seu Antunes said: SIC TV He said farmers should trust the government and would ask the European Commission for permission to use the national budget to avoid market distortions.
“Farmers must trust governments and European institutions. Cap [common agricultural policy] “This is Europe’s only means of addressing food production and currently does not solve the challenges facing farmers,” she said.
The Peasants’ Citizen Movement, which describes itself as spontaneous and non-partisan, assured Portuguese farmers that they were ready to “defend against persistent attacks on sustainability, food sovereignty and rural livelihoods”.
(María João Pereira – Edited by: María de Deus Rodríguez | Lusa.pt)
