Tractors reach Rome as farmer protests sweep Europe
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An AFP correspondent witnessed over 150 tractors gathered near Orte, about an hour north of Rome, as demonstrators seeking better wages and conditions announced their impending arrival in the Italian city.
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Around 150 tractors massed in Orte, around one hour north of Rome (AFP)
A convoy of tractors was set to arrive in Rome on Saturday as farmer demonstrations erupted across Europe.
Farmers have voiced outrage over what they claim are unduly restrictive agricultural restrictions and unfair competition, among other issues.
The movement began in France last month and has since extended to Germany, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Greece, and the Netherlands, resulting in road closures and cities overrun by tractor convoys.
An AFP correspondent witnessed over 150 tractors gathered near Orte, about an hour north of Rome, as demonstrators seeking better wages and conditions announced their impending arrival in the Italian city.
Protester Felice Antonio Monfeli told AFP that "Italian agriculture has woken up, it's historic and the people here are proving it. For the first time in their history, farmers are united under the same flag, that of Italy."
Protesters are demanding "answers" from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, with one protester saying "We cannot be slaves in our own companies."
On Saturday, some 2,000 Greek farmers demonstrated in Thessaloniki, the country's second-largest city, demanding assistance hikes, a day after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced more support measures.
Kostas Tzelas, president of the Rural Associations of Karditsa, told AFP "We have no food, we cannot put our lives in discount. We want to stay on our land and not become migrants."
Mitsotakis extended the return of a special consumption tax on oil and a rural power discount from May to September, as part of a package of measures estimated to cost more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion).
On Thursday, RIA Novosti reported that European farmers were setting fires in the city center and outside the European Parliament building near Luxembourg Square in demand of measures from European leaders.
Earlier on Thursday, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stated that EU leaders should put the subject of widespread farmer demonstrations throughout the union on the agenda for consideration at the European Council session, citing the protesters' "partially justified" demands.
Angry European farmers besiege politicians locked in EU headquarters in Brussels. Patience seems to be running out. pic.twitter.com/N1W7rUQ1io
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) February 1, 2024
