Jason MoorePalma19/02/2024 09:40
TW
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Enough is enough is their battle cry as they rolled into Palma to underline the fact that rural life is in crisis thanks to cheap imports and red-tape from the European Union. An estimated 300 tractors took to the streets of Palma bringing lunch-time traffic to a standstill. As one eye-witness said "you don´t often see a tractor on the Paseo Mallorca..."

There was some support for the farmers with small pockets of people standing to watch and cheering as they went-by. The whole process was closely co-ordinated by the police but it will take many hours before traffic returns to normal in the city centre.

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Local farmers say that they can no longer compete against cheap imports. Unless the local population starts buying their crops they will be in crisis with many fearing for their livelihood.

In terms of EU policy, they are calling for a moratorium on the introduction of the digital passbook because it is “unbearable bureaucracy” and are protesting against “unfair competition” from countries outside the EU that do not comply with regulations on animal welfare, food safety and waste, which “increase production costs”.

Spain’s Agriculture Ministry has announced it would distribute an extra 269 million euros in aid to nearly 140,000 farmers to help alleviate the impact of the long-running drought and the war in Ukraine.

Photo gallery

The best images of the Mallorca farmer's protest

More than 250 tractors descended on the centre of Palma in protest against the crisis in the primary sector, displaying slogans such as “payesía o muerte” (farm or die). The hundreds of vehicles from different parts of Mallorca have gathered at Avenida Mexico de Palma, from where they have departed, around 11.50 am in rows of two, towards the city centre along Calle Manacor, Manacor, Las Avenidas, Via Roma, Paseo Mallorca and Avenida Jaume III.