Hundreds of tractors tangle up Madrid in huge farmer protests

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Hundreds of tractors reached downtown Spain’s capital Madrid on Friday morning and hundreds more circled the city, as farmers’ protests continued in the country.

The Madrid protest is being organized by Uniones de Uniones, the fourth-largest agricultural union in Spain, but which is not in dialogue with the government over its demands.

The tension between the massive demonstration and authorities is growing, as protesters refuse to move from the Puerta de Alcala until the around 1,500 tractors trying to reach the center of the Spanish capital are allowed in by police.

Union coordinator Francisco Martin said the government revoked permission last minute for so many tractors and blamed authorities for “what might happen today,” and the “tension in the air,” according to the Spanish daily El Pais.

"People are really angry," he added.

Not only are some farmers willing to stay put in downtown Madrid overnight, he said, but they will also “come back in the coming days” if no concrete measures come out of the EU’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council next Monday.

Meanwhile, Spain’s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told the media that he was certain the Madrid protest would continue “peacefully and without any kind of violence.”

Outside Madrid, provincial protests are also occurring, as they have every day for more than two straight weeks.

Tractors and protesting farmers are cutting traffic and protesting around Cuidad Real, Murcia, and Zaragoza, according to Spain’s highway monitor system.

Last week, after meeting with Spain’s three largest farmers’ unions, which are also behind many of the recent protests, the Spanish government announced several measures to appease the farmers.

However, while the unions evaluate the measures – ranging from stronger import controls to lessening the digital reporting requirements – as positive, they said the solutions do not go far enough.

The farmers’ demands are also targeted at Brussels and each of Spain’s regional governments, with local issues such as wolf populations, water management, and slow-moving bureaucracies.