Farmers Rolling 500 Tractors into Madrid

Because the Guardia Civil blocked some access roads into Madrid for tractors, not all protesters could make it to the capital city center on Feb. 21, but 500 tractors and 100 buses succeeded on other roads and were able to get in. The demonstration and concluding rally, the biggest of this kind ever by farmers, in front of the Agriculture Ministry, was organized by the mainstream farmers’ associations La Unión de Uniones de Agricultores y Ganaderos, Asaja, COAG, and UPA. The farmers rejected the latest negotiation proposal from Agriculture Minister Luis Planas as insufficient.