Farmers who have already filled central Madrid with hundreds of tractors are insisting on entry. They say they will not leave the capital until the approximately 1,000 tractors held at Madrid’s entry points are allowed to pass. The standoff has sparked tense moments and clashes with police near Puerta de Alcalá.
“They want 500 tractors to enter, but we won’t leave the other 900 at Madrid’s gates. We will wait for them and stand our ground until they come in. Today is a festival for farmers, yet we are furious because they won’t let us in,” explained Luis Cortés, the state coordinator of Unión de Uniones, to reporters.
The organizer’s representative condemned the Government Delegation, arguing it has missed deadlines and tried to alter the protest routes.
“If they break the rules set by the Citizens Security Law, then we will too. We will wait until they are allowed inside. I don’t think they can push us out of here, and if they do, we will stay,” Cortés added.
Cortés made clear that although the protest, which is slated to end at the doors of the Ministry of Agriculture, would not be received by the minister, Luis Planas, the representative mocked, “The minister will not meet us because he has fled to Brussels, like a rabbit, so it will be hard.”
The Unión de Uniones spokesman stressed that the protest is prompted by government measures viewed as insufficient by the farming sector, criticizing them as mere cosmetic fixes. “It is makeup that does nothing,” he emphasized.
“If that is all the minister proposes, this minister cannot stay in office any longer,” Cortés reiterated.
Attempt to Cut the Security Curtain on Alcalá Street
Hundreds of farmers and livestock producers chanted slogans such as “Out with Sánchez, dictator and tyrant,” “Bilderberg and Davos want us poor and slave,” and “Without the countryside there is no life” from their tractors as they sought to reach the Ministry of Agriculture.
Among the five columns moving through Madrid, tension rose on Alcalá Street as farmers and ranchers tried to breach the police cordon, throwing eggs at riot police while directing insults at the head of the government, Pedro Sánchez.
About 5,000 demonstrators waited near Puerta de Alcalá for tractors that were delayed in central Madrid, stemming from a march that started earlier in Guadalajara and various towns across the region in five separate columns.
Those tractors that had managed to proceed were already in the capital by 12:15 at the Delicias and O’Donnell avenues. In Legazpi, many protesters paused their vehicles in order not to advance until their delayed colleagues could join them.
The Government Delegation in Madrid reported at 11:00 that the protest was unfolding along routes and conditions outlined in a resolution announced the previous Monday, a plan organizers challenged as they sought to use main roads. The Madrid Superior Court of Justice upheld the Delegation’s position.
At present, the movement appears to be coordinating through several lines of march while authorities maintain the established routes, calling for orderly conduct in line with the official resolution.
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