Thousands of Greek farmers have rallied in Athens on Tuesday to demand financial aid, parking tractors outside parliament. Source: Daphne Tolis, X.
Thousands of Greek farmers have rallied in Athens on Tuesday to demand financial aid, parking tractors outside parliament.
Greek police estimated 8,000 farmers took part in the Syntagma Square demonstration with about 130 vans and tractors.
Alongside coffins and funerary wreaths, one protestor carried a banner that said, “Without us, you don’t eat”.
The farmers said they planned to stay the entire night.
The government said they were willing to discuss lowering energy bills and tax rebates on fertilisers and animal feed. Last week, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also promised to deliver financial aid to those affected by natural disasters by next month.
Farmers say this aid is not enough and want tax-free diesel fuel, protection against foreign competition, and more compensation from natural disasters.
While dealing with the already high energy and production costs, farmers have also been hurt by climate changes, with unpredictable flooding that damaged Greek agriculture last September in Thessaly, as well as extreme heat and wildfires that burned crops last August.
Farmers are also criticising the substantial markup prices between what consumers pay and what it costs wholesalers to buy produce from farmers.
“We can’t be producing and (selling) our products for ridiculously low prices while the consumer buys them at extremely high prices,” said Manolis Liakis, a farmer from the southern island of Crete.
On Monday evening, Mitsotakis said, during an interview, that the government had “nothing more to give” and could not support additional tax reductions and concessions this year, but wanted to continue discussions with protestors.
The rally ended peacefully. Some farmers planned to stay outside Parliament until Wednesday.
This protest is one of the many widespread farmer protests that have broken out across Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain.
“Our problems are the same as elsewhere in Europe, but in Greece, we are smallholders and production costs are enormous, especially for fertiliser and fuel,” said Giorgos Charisanis, a farmer from the northern region near Thessaloniki.
Protestors said they are determined and will push more until the government meet their demands.
