Farmers have taken to the streets across Spain this week to demand fair farming and animal husbandry. And the farmers continue protesting with demonstrations on Spain’s main roads and highways. The ‘tractoradas’ aim to bring the protests to government delegations in all provinces.
The farmers are calling for improvements in the sector. For example, that the conditions for importing food from non-EU countries will be tightened. At present, the strict requirements of the European Union (EU) often do not have to be met. For example, in the case of tomatoes from Morocco.
Near Jerez de la Frontera, angry farmers threw boxes of tomatoes on the road. They were from Morocco. The farmers demonstrated against the truck that was transporting the tomatoes, because they denounce the fact that the Moroccan tomato is not subject to the same requirements as the Spanish tomatoes. Watch here.
Blockades and farmers’ protests
Farmers and ranchers are blocking roads and highways across Spain under the slogan “Without agriculture and ranching, your table is empty”. In addition, they make it difficult to access wholesale markets and ports. On Friday morning, there were again significant traffic jams on highways, but also several incidents.
The 6F platform, organiser of the mobilisations, plans to go to the various government delegations of the country. The goal is to ask for the legalisation of the protest scheduled for next Saturday. Then farmers want to move into Madrid.
The Spanish Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, assures that if the demonstrations reach the point where “the country is blockaded, the security forces must act” to guarantee mobility on the blocked highways and roads.
How long will farmers’ protests last: check the data
The main farmers’ associations in Spain are planning to carry out several mobilisations in different parts of the country during the month of February. This is what the protest calendar for this month looks like:
Friday 9 February: Call for protests in Zamora, Bilbao and Extremadura
Monday 12 February: Call for protests in the province of Alicante
Tuesday 13 February: Demonstrations in La Rioja and Zaragoza and protests in the ports of Tarragona and Santander.
Wednesday 14 February: Demonstrations in Toledo, Guadalajara, Jaén, Seville, Palencia, Soria and in Santa María La Real de Nieva (Segovia).
Thursday 15 February: Call for protests in Castellón and Boceguillas (Segovia).
Friday 16 February: Call for protests in Venta Pinillas (Segovia).
Wednesday 21 February: Planned tractor ride in front of the doors of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in Madrid. And call for mobilisation in the region of Murcia.
Thursday 22 February : Protests in Aragon, in the province of Cádiz and in the port of Valencia.
Friday 23 February: Closing with a day of protests in León.
In addition, various cooperatives and farmers’ groups are organising demonstrations throughout the country in the coming days.
Also read: Spanish farmers threaten to paralyse cities and logistic centres
