Shouting “we’re leaving” barcelona“ This ended at noon on Tuesday Fondarella (Lleida) The meeting organized by farmers from Lleida with their tractors on the side of the A-2 highway, which was closed to traffic since the early hours of the morning. Lleida protesters mobilizing more than 100 people 1,500 agricultural vehiclesThey agreed to spend the night on the road with their trailers, plows and sulfur machines and set out first thing this Wednesday morning for the Catalan capital, where they expected to arrive around four in the afternoon. “We want those in power to listen to us,” said board member Damià Areny. Platform 6F, farmers’ collective He encouraged agricultural mobilization in Catalonia.
The tractors will stop in front of the offices when they arrive in Barcelona. European Commission On Passeig de Gràcia, in front central government delegationMallorca street and in front Palau de la Generalitat is in Plaza de Sant Jaume. President Pere Aragonès has already announced that he will receive them together with Climate Action Minister David Mascort. Organizers plan to hold a parade More than a thousand tractors from LleidaWith approximately 3,000 farmers, to be added from other regions. Right now the Girona people have declared their support for them, so tomorrow too 500 vehicles The person who blocked the AP-7 highway in Sant Julià de Ramis (Gironès) on Tuesday will head towards the capital after sleeping on the road.
The success of the first day of protests on Catalan roads angered organizers and participants. According to the calculations of Unió de Pagesos (UP), one of the unions that supported the protests, Nearly 4 thousand tractors participated in the protestsFrom the Pyrenees to the Ebro delta. In addition to the two already mentioned, that of Pla d’Urgell and that of Girones, also when passing over the AP-7 highway L’Aldea (Baix Ebre) The traffic disruption will last until Wednesday. Tractor trailers were also located in other parts of Tarragona. Mont Blanc And AlcoverAP-2 and C-14 disconnected), in central Catalonia, in Vallès, Penedès (with 200 tractors) vilafranca and cut AP-2 Banyeres of Penedès) and in various parts of the Pyrenees and Terres de l’Ebre.
The mobility has received support from, among others: many mayors of the region (they are farmers by profession) and Understanding the Generalitat GovernmentAccording to Quim Bertomeu’s report, through his spokesperson Patricia Plaja, he stated that he “empathizes” with the protesters. In a statement following the Executive Council meeting, Plaja said, “Maximum empathy and understanding towards legitimate demands. The government has always maintained that agriculture in Catalonia should be on equal terms with third countries.” said. Although the Generalitat expresses its closeness to the protest, it hides behind the fact that this is a very important thing. The problem needs to be solved at the state or European level.
Review drought plan
Catalan farmers have seen how, with the recently declared emergency phase due to drought in some parts of the Catalan inland basins, they are left with a water supply of 200 grams. only 20% for your irrigation. “We demand a review of special drought plan So the agricultural sector is not always the most penalized sector,” farmers claimed at the Fondarella meeting.
In the same manifesto, how do they condemn it? Generalitat’s accumulated delays ‘unaffordable’ To pay aid to those affected by drought in 2023. large cropsSo not all grains have even been called, and the grounds of this call were made public a few days ago”, condemned Martí Costal, a producer from Jafre (Baix Empordà) and spokesman of the JARC union. This is not fair to us who support the trucks productive and business sector like any other“We have an 80% water constraint while the industry has a 25% water constraint,” laments Costal, who has been suffering from supply disruptions for more than a year.