Thousands of farmers with yellow vests have once again collapsed a part of central Madrid in a new rural demonstration with tractors to demand “fair prices” and an end to “unfair competition” for their products. 107 heavy vehicles were authorized to travel the distance between the Ministry of Agriculture and the headquarters of the European Commission. The protest has been organized by the agricultural associations that have dialogue with the Government, Asaja, COAG and UPA. The diagnosis is the majority: “We are not going to stop.”
Pedro Barato, president of Asaja, is one of the promoters of the protest. “We will not stop, I believe that we have to continue demonstrating because neither the Government nor the EU responds to our demands,” he points out at the head of the protest. The leader of the organization within the CEOE has coordinated with COAG and UPA to gain muscle in the capital in the face of the takeover bid by other organizations such as Unión de Uniones, which already packed the city last week.
The protest started around 11:30 from the Ministry of Agriculture. Noisier than last week, the organizers speak of more than 10,000 attendees. Each agricultural organization has chartered its own buses. COAG talks about 100 vehicles. Whistles, vuvuzelas, firecrackers and lots of flags from the three farmers and ranchers organizations. They were also at risk today and could not be less combative about the Union of Unions.
Flags of Extremadura, La Rioja, Aragón, Castilla y León, some farmers from the province of Lleida… A few meters after starting the protest on foot, the first tractors arrived, welcomed like heroes. At the height of the Paseo del Prado, appetite. The extreme right also tried to play a leading role, placing itself at the head of the protest.
At the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, a group of farmers crossed the Paseo del Prado to protest in front of the public building. Smells against the 2030 Agenda are a constant in agrarian protests in Spain. The National Police had blocked access to Congress, but not to this ministry. They blocked traffic without authorization and the riot police had to evict them, but not without restraint to avoid violent incidents.
“We were already on your plates every day, now we are on your roads,” read the UPA banner. There were problems with the tractors, which arrived in dribs and drabs until the march. “Let’s wait for everyone to arrive,” sounded from the van equipped with a public address system. “Our future is that of the entire society,” they claimed.
The general secretary of Asaja, Eduardo Martín, stressed that “here we have to turn the CAP around, that there is no need for so many measures, so much bureaucracy. It must be changed radically and it can be changed leaving the farmer alone. “Who knows better, the one in the office in Brussels or the farmer.”
The general secretary of UPA, Lorenzo Ramos, stated, for his part, that “if they do not want the countryside to die and for the population to have food, a radical change must be made in agrarian policy and the same measures must be demanded from products from third countries than to ours.”
