Farmers persist by blocking national highways across Greece in protest against the security fund reforms the government is about to table in parliament.
Major thoroughfares will be completely blocked by the farmers’ tractors 12 pm-2pm and then on an hourly basis starting at 7 pm.
On Tuesday, all farmers and stockbreeders unions will convene at noon to decide on the further course of the protest and the delegation that will represent them in the meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at Maximos Mansion.
Some hard-nosed unionists demand that the prime minister comes to them and talks with them on the roadblocks.
Farmers of the primary production sector remain adamant in their position for the withdrawal of the bill on tax and social security, requesting re-establishment of the security fund system from scratch with their own contribution.
Moreover, they call on industry representatives and other professional groups and ordinary citizens to join in their rallies. So far, truck drivers, taxi drivers, coach drivers have responded and joined the farmers in the blocks.
At Promahonas customs office, a crossing point on the border with Bulgaria, more than 1,600 tractors are gathered and more are on the way. At Egnatia highway, at the Kordyllia junction, more than 800 tractors are there and block the thoroughfare for half an hour at a time.
At the Kokkinogia of Drama junction, at another point on the Bulgarian border, about 600 tractors symbolically occupy the roadway for two hours at a time, not allowing motorists to go through customs.
In the prefecture of Kilkis, more than 450 tractors are lined up on the national highway Thessaloniki-Pestritsi. There will be a symbolic occupation of the road leading to the border with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
In Pella, farmers have created three checkpoints: at the Melissi junction, the Giannitsa-Edessa ring road and at Mandalo, right before the Servika bridge.
At the entrance to Chalcedona, protesters formed symbolic blockades of traffic, while at the tolls at Malgara, more than 800 tractors are lined up. At Niseli junction of the Thessaloniki-Veria highway, the blockade amounts to more than 600 vehicles.
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