The widespread protests by farmers are gaining momentum across many EU countries. Farmers with their tractors, who have been protesting in France, Germany and Italy etc, have started blocking roads, with a large group of over a thousand farmers marching on to EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Farmers moving to or arriving in Brussels to lay siege to the city ahead of the EU Summit.
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) February 1, 2024
Farmers across Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Poland are all protesting against the anti-farmer policies. pic.twitter.com/cgwPLjwbwH
As per the latest reports, the protesting farmers have started burning tires, and setting fire to the barricades erected outside the EU parliament where a summit of EU leaders is underway. They are throwing eggs at security personnel and raising slogans.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 1, 2024
First videos emerge of fires set and barricades built by protesting Belgian farmers in front of the European Parliament in Brussels.
Farmers are protesting in Germany, France, Belgium and other European countries.
Via @hermanntertsch pic.twitter.com/2qxBYButsk
For weeks now, farmers across several EU nations have been protesting against price pressure, harsh climate regulations and steep taxes imposed on them.
As per a Reuters report, some demands of the farmers have already been met, like the EU Executive Commission’s proposal to limit imports from Ukraine and relax some climate regulations.
In France, the government has dropped plans to gradually reduce subsidies on diesel. However, farmers across EU are adamant that the measures are meagre and EU policies are still hurting them.
The farmers also want a trade deal with the Mercosur group of South American countries to be accepted in its current form, a demand that French President Macron and Ireland PM Leo Varadkar are opposing.
Across major EU nations, there are already reports of empty supermarket shelves as supply and logistics of agricultural produce are impacted.
As thousands of tractors and trucks marched to Brussels to blockade the EU summit, slogans like “Ursula, we are here”, “No farmers, no food” etc were found on posters, banners and chalked on roadways.
Major roads in Belgium, France and Italy were also blocked, to disrupt logistics at major ports and traffic, as per reports.
On Wednesday, French police arrested 91 protestors who had stormed into Europe’s largest food market, the Rungis market.
French farmers have been protesting by throwing manure, rotten fruits and other material on government buildings. The rising cost of living, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, steep taxes and unfriendly climate regulations have been hunting the farmers for years, the protestors complain.
Earlier, German farmers began a statewide agitation on 8th January by clogging roadways and major highways in almost all 16 Federal states of Germany with thousands of tractors and trucks.
The most intense pushback has been in the Netherlands, where government efforts to dismantle farms and reduce the number of animals on them have been met with violent and ongoing protests following a 2019 court ruling on nitrogen emissions. Similar brawls in Belgium resulted in tractor convoys jamming Brussels’ European Union district in March of the previous year.
