Division and a frustrated assault on the center of Madrid: balance of the first week of tractors in the street

David Vigario Merida

Merida

Updated Sunday, February 11, 2024-02:53

• Protests Farmers and transporters agree to an indefinite strike in the countryside throughout the country: "We have to be combative"

"Information! On Monday everyone will be back at their posts, however, several details will be discussed. Please, maximum assistance, let's not waste 5 days. Courage and strength." The message spread yesterday like wildfire among the Telegram and WhatsApp groups as soon as the popular assembly ended next to the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, already with the promotion of the

National Platform for the Defense of Transport,

which in turn could be join the fishermen's collective next week. The objective: paralyze the country with an indefinite strike.

The farmers keep their finger on the pulse of the Government, although they decided on Saturday, prior to the consultation, that they were not going to attempt the assault on Madrid, taking into account the shielding programmed by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlasca. They also did not attempt to access the Valladolid Fair with the tractors, as planned, where the Goya film awards gala was held last night. Only a hundred farmers approached on foot and shouted their demands along the fences.

After the "hard" week, in many cases with direct confrontations with the Police and Civil Guard, the protesters did not take the protests to the maximum yesterday, although at the end some incident occurred. From the "it's going to be a big deal," promoted by the leader of the 6F agrarian platform, Lola Guzmán, to show greater strength with the support of the transporters, or part of them, because the National Committee for the Transport of Goods by Highway (CNTC), the sector's interlocutor body with the Government, sees no reason to join the strike.

Nor did the organizers go to Ferraz, nor to the Ministry of Agriculture or the Congress of Deputies to throw slurry from trucks, as was planned during the week. The Government Delegation in Madrid confirmed that there were no traffic cuts or notable incidents on the roads of the Community as a result of agricultural mobilizations, which had been announced at midnight the previous night.

A day of tranquility

was experienced throughout Spain on Saturday

. The highest incidence occurred on the A-2 highway near Calatayud (Zaragoza), which was blocked for seven hours of agricultural pickets, between 10:00 and 17:00. However, there were no tear gas, no struggles, or police charges as in the last two days for an official number of detainees in the first week of mobilizations of 31 people and 8,400 identified by the Security Corps and Forces for possible sanction. 3,065 administrative complaints have also been opened for road closures throughout the country.

Thus, the protesters, who have been on the roads for five days, took a break because "we need to tend to our crops, which we have abandoned since Tuesday," Pedro said from Santa Amalia (Badajoz). He lowered his tone and tension. In

Plasencia

, farmers gave lettuce to drivers detained by pickets. "Let no one doubt it, the protests will continue indefinitely until the Government makes its move, but not with statements but with the approval of royal decrees that appear in the BOE," says an agrarian leader.

Division

Furthermore, the traditional agricultural organizations, ASAJA, UPA and COAG, had not scheduled protests for this weekend either, and the

calendar of tractor rallies

- which currently extends until the 24th - returns this Monday, precisely in the Community of Madrid and also in Alicante, with Wednesday being when in principle it covers the most provinces (Toledo, Guadalajara, Jaén, Seville, Palencia, Soria and Burgos). Meanwhile, the agricultural associations of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria - which had not yet participated - agreed on coordinated mobilizations, pending closing an agreement with those of the Basque Country. From north to south and from east to west.

The outlook for the second week of protests is open. On the one hand, we will have to check how it affects the union of the two independent platforms, those in the field and those in transportation, which are not in unity of action with the "official" ones. In the Metropolitano, Lola Guzmán made it clear again: "No political party calls us here, we don't want any union, whether agrarian or political or anything. This is the people against the rulers, against the politicians." Agricultural organizations, legitimate representatives of farmers and ranchers at the polls, are suspicious of these platforms, although the official discourse avoids speaking out against them. "The problems in the countryside are the same but

the method to try to solve them is very different,"

they point out privately. Deep down, they fear that "the anti-system" will ruin the broad support and solidarity that the agricultural sector has in society if the protests become radicalized or politicized.

On the other hand,

ASAJA, UPA and COAG

expect a "real and effective" movement from the Government, as other European Executives are proposing to stop the protests. Yesterday, Pedro Sánchez, at a rally in Galicia, said again that the Government "is with the countryside" and showed his support for the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas. But to agrarian leaders it seems that it is not time for speeches but for actions. Tuesday's meeting was suspended "due to scheduling problems" with the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, the next meeting will be the Observatory of the Food Chain Law scheduled for Wednesday. "We need something much more profound" to try to calm the street, although, today, that seems like a chimera.