Christina Alonso

Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-2:24 p.m.

  • Direct Farmers' strike, last minute

Neither the rain nor the powerful police force have managed to stop them.

Almost twenty tractors arrived at Atocha around noon

. The majority left Extremadura yesterday morning. Francisco José Mentidieri is one of them. "We have come to be heard," he claims at the doors of the Ministry after almost a day and a half of travel. "Until they let us arrive," he complains. Ricardo is a farmer from Madrid and has joined the tractor unit from San Martín de la Vega. "They have been teasing us, escorting us like criminals, going around until we got here. I am willing to stay until that man inside, if he is there, listens to us," he denounces.



The concentration, which passed without notable incidents beyond a few eggs thrown at the same door of the ministerial building, coincides with the day on which

a meeting was scheduled to be held between the head of Agriculture, Luis Planas, and the representatives of the large organizations ASAJA, COAG and UPA

. Initially, the meeting was scheduled for 11 in the morning, but the Ministry has decided to postpone it so as not to coincide with the protesters at the door. First, until 4 in the afternoon, then, until 6:00 p.m. And at this time there is no official confirmation that this meeting will take place.



"When there is no bread on the table they will listen to us

" or "this war is going to be very long, it will not be resolved in this battle", are some of the slogans heard in the groups between bites at lunch. There is no shortage of good sausages, a bottle of wine and even a bottle of DYC whiskey to accompany it.

To know more

Farmers.

The future of Lola Guzmán: low profile in Spain in the face of the division it generates, but face of the protest in Italy

  • Editor: DAVID VIGARIO Mérida

The future of Lola Guzmán: low profile in Spain in the face of the division it generates, but face of the protest in Italy



Some go further. Like Juan, who comes from Tarragona. Sensitively angry, he denounces that in 40 years as a member of Asaja "they had never managed to get all of Spain out with the tractors and this lady - in reference to Lola Guzmán, leader of the 6F platform - had to come to achieve this thanks to social networks , without the intervention of a union". "Well," he says, "here we are. We have to paralyze the nation and the markets and if it's not here, we're going to La Moncloa," he warns.



Expectations about the meeting, which still does not have a time - nor is he even sure that it will be held today - are practically zero. At around 1:30 p.m.,

three Asaja representatives managed to obtain permission to enter the Ministry and deliver a document

with their demands. At the exit they admit that they do not have much hope that they will come to fruition. The concentration is authorized until three in the afternoon.