The farmers, who wanted to enter Madrid city center through 5 main roads, were intervened by the gendarmerie and police at many points with the decision of the Governorate.
While only 50 of the 600 tractors were allowed to enter the city center, farmers who stayed outside the city with their tractors blocked Madrid’s ring roads.
There were occasional tensions between farmers and security forces.
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On the other hand, the Plaza de la Independencia (Plaza de la Independencia) and its surroundings, where the farmers gathered in the city center, have been completely closed to traffic since the morning.
Farmers who arrived in Madrid for the demonstration and farmers who arrived in the square with their tractors wanted to march towards the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries building.
However, the police intervened against the farmers who wanted to go outside the permitted march route.
Some people were detained both in the city center and on the surrounding roads.
Farmers continue to protest in the center of Madrid and on the ring roads.
Spanish farmers Our problems are not new, they have been going on for 45 years
Amada Almeda, one of the farmers who participated in the demonstration, told AA correspondent, “There is only one thing we want and that is fair wages. We want to be paid a fair wage for our product that comes out of the field. We come from a village in Cuenca. Our problems are not new, they have been going on for 45 years. We had the same problems in my grandfather’s time, but enough is enough. We want less promises and more action.”
Farmer Julia Lopez stated that the prices of the products coming out of the field have to rise and said, “We cannot continue like this. The steps to be taken by the government will determine the course of our protests.”
Farmers want concrete steps from the government, not promises
Farmers, who do not find the government’s promises regarding the 18-item package of measures insufficient, want concrete steps to be taken.
The farmers are demanding “flexibility in EU agricultural policies, restrictions and stricter controls on products from non-EU countries, increased aid against drought, strengthened laws and control of the food chain from the field to the markets, and expanded insurance rights for farmers.”
The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Luis Planas, announced that they would take initiatives in the European Union to help farmers in Europe, to introduce some flexibility in the common agricultural policies or to temporarily suspend some articles.
The government has also promised to establish a state-owned “Food Information and Control Agency” to strengthen oversight of violations in the food chain.
