Farmers are set to take Palma by storm

The organisers of the farmer's demo say that they expect to bring traffic in Palma to a halt on Saturday, with at least 200 tractors taking the streets by storm. They are due to arrive in the city early in the morning, and end up at 12 noon outside government headquarters in the Consolat de Mar on Paseo Sagrera. The farmers will come from all over the island. A spokesman for the FAGB, its main representative body, said it will show society in general just how precarious the situation in the rural world is. He added “we are not complaining just for the sake of it but because we cannot take any more.” So convinced of their cause is the Federation that its president Fernando Dameto has announced that he will resign if it is not a success. Dameto has been under fire from the parties which form the coalition government, but he dismissed this, saying it was just a smoke screen. “They are trying to kill the messenger. Those who criticise me think it is an initiative I have set up on my own and what they don't know is that any decision taken by the Federation is done with the agreement of the entire Board.” Dameto accused the government of trying to manipulate public opinion and said that all the farmers had done was point out what they had been doing wrong. “And we will continue to do so,” he added. He went on to say that the farmers felt abandoned by the administration, and accused the Balearic government of not wanting to listen to “the desperate cries of the rural world.”