One of the largest protest rallies by farmers was held on Wednesday in Athens’ Vathi Square, followed by a march to Parliament and Syntagma Square. According to police sources, more than 5,000 people, including farmers that arrived from regions throughout Greece, participated in the mobilization.
A delegation of farmers tried to meet with Parliament President Evangelos Meimarakis but he was absent so they delivered a resolution outlining their demands to Meimarakis’ office instead.
The rally then dispersed, though scuffles broke out when a small group of the farmers tried to knock down protective fences put up outside Parliament by the Greek Police and MAT riot police were deployed to repel them.
After the incident was resolved, the area was turned back over to traffic.
Participants included farmers from northern Greece, Thessaly, central Greece, the island of Evia, the Peloponnese, Crete, the Communist Party-affiliated trade union group PAME, trade unions representing retail staff, railway workers, urban transport workers, textile workers, food industry workers, students, builders, local authority staff and agricultural technicians, as well as representatives of left wing parties.
In a speech, one of the heads of the farmers’ nationwide protest movement Vangelis Boutas said the demands of the rural world were of vital importance and stressed that “small farms are struggling to survive.”
Earlier on Wednesday, a delegation of farmers led by Boutas had a meeting with the head of the farmers’ state insurance fund OGA, Xenofon Verginis, and discussed issues relating to farmers’ retirement, health care, insurance issues and legislation to help poor and elderly farmers.
(source: ana-mpa)
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