Madrid is flooded this Wednesday with dozens of tractors and yellow vests. Several thousand farmers and ranchers arriving from all over Spain collapse a part of the city center after midday in what is the first major rural protest in the capital. Convened by the Union of Unions, an organization that does not have official dialogue with the Ministry of Agriculture and in which Unió de Pagesos is integrated (some 500 Catalan protesters have arrived from different parts of Catalonia), they have received the first tractors with There was an uproar when they went up the slope towards the Puerta de Alcalá around 12:30 p.m. [Protest itineraries]
Five columns of tractors headed towards Madrid. The Civil Guard detained several to convey to the protesters that not all of them had authorization to access the city. The news spread like wildfire and immediately reached the protest in Alcalá. “Until the last registration plate arrives, we won’t move,” chanted Luis Cortes, an old acquaintance of the Ministry of Agriculture who became the leader of today’s rally. At the head of the protest, a trailer with a powerful public address system kept the atmosphere heated all morning: “They don’t represent us!”
The scenes are striking. Dozens of tractors on the asphalt of streets normally packed with cars on a weekday. Constant sound of whistles and vuvuzelas. An ox brought from Colmenar Viejo. Some cowbell.
The promoters of the march have changed the route at the last minute. They had authorization to go to the doors of the ministry on Alfonso XII Street. Suddenly they have announced that “if they want war, they are going to have it.” Around 1:00 p.m. they headed down Alcalá Street towards Paseo del Prado. They report that dozens of tractors are blocked on the outskirts of the city and that they cannot enter. Even some farmers have been “beaten” by the riot police. The atmosphere heats up.
The farmers carry banners from different parts of Spain: Carboneras, Cuenca, Seville, Catalonia, Euskadi, Castilla y León, Extremadura… There are also some far-right groups, Vox and Hazte Oír among them.
Cortes, leader of the protest, explains to La Vanguardia why they are in Madrid: “The CAP is not an agrarian policy but an environmentalist one.” He also denounces the “unfair competition” from other countries and attacks the Food Chain Law. For him, the 18 points that Minister Planas raised last week are insufficient. “We are not moving from here,” he proclaims.
The Unió de Pagesos de Catalunya, upon the arrival of their tractors to Madrid, have gathered next to the building where José Bergamín was born. Joan Caball is its maximum representative. He states that some 500 Catalan farmers have traveled to the capital, with 6 tractors. The ERC deputy, Teresa Jordà, has come to say hello. Caball is critical of the Food Chain Law because, he says, it only benefits “distribution and large industry.” “We Catalans have to defend Catalan agriculture, each territory has to put pressure,” he proclaims. “Fewer words and more actions,” he asks the central government and the Generalitat.
The Union of Unions concentration is a takeover bid for the agricultural organizations that do have dialogue with the minister, Asaja, COAG and UPA. “Agrarian elections, now,” sounds over the public address system.
