Spanish farmers are protesting this Friday for the fourth day in a row in several regions of the country, with road closures and gatherings in urban centers, as well as calls for the streets of Madrid to be closed on Saturday.
The demonstrations are being called by Spain’s three agricultural confederations, as well as informal groups that are using social media to mobilize farmers.
At the start of the fourth day of protests in Spain against European agricultural policies and rules, as is happening in other European Union (EU) countries, roads and highways are closed in regions such as Extremadura, Aragon or the Valencian Community.
This Friday, agricultural confederations also planned protests in the provinces of Zamora (Castile and Leon), Badajoz (Extremadura) and Bilbao (Basque Country), and the so-called Platform 6F (with a hint of the 6th) appeared on social networks. February, when the demonstrations began) called for concentration before Spanish government delegations in all autonomous regions.
This Platform 6F, which breaks away from the agricultural confederations and has been the protagonist of several mobilizations in recent days, also called for protests in Madrid with caravans of tractors and other vehicles on Saturday.
The goal, the platform suggests, is to block access to Madrid from the early morning and throughout the day on Saturday.
Farmers in Spain have primarily blocked roads and access to logistics centers such as ports, but have also moved tractors into city centers, as happened in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Since Tuesday, Spanish authorities have detained 20 people during these protests.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 5,200 people have also been identified for possible administrative sanctions.
European farmers, including in Portugal, have taken to the streets in recent weeks to demand an easing of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and more support for the sector.
The European Commission will prepare a proposal to reduce the administrative burden on farmers, which will be discussed by the 27 member states on February 26.
On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the withdrawal of the agency’s proposal to halve the use of pesticides in agriculture by 2030, a central part of European environmental legislation that is also one of farmers’ goals. protests.