In Spain’s Ciudad Real province, hundreds of protesting farmers poured 25,000 litres of French wine into the street in front of the local water authority to protest against central government policies, local media reported.
Farmers blocked roads across Spain for the third day in a row on Thursday to protest against heavy regulation and cheaper imports, with the main farmers’ unions joining the demonstrations for the first time.
After a day of gathering in Barcelona, protesters took to the streets again on Thursday, with several convoys of slow-moving tractors hampering traffic on roads in eastern Valencia, Asturias in the north and central Castilla la Mancha. The Asaja union wrote on X:
If the tractors are protesting, it’s because the rural world feels suffocated.
UPA MP Marcos Alarcón said the farmers hoped that this “huge demonstration will give us significant influence that we can use at the negotiating table”.
Union officials said the main demonstrations were taking place in central areas such as Salamanca, Ciudad Real and Avila.
In Barcelona, nearly 1,000 tractors gathered in the city centre on Wednesday and dozens of farmers spent the night there, although most left early Thursday morning.
Some demonstrations turned into scuffles as police began dismantling roadblocks, leading to several arrests, and the interior ministry raised the total number of detainees since the protests began to 19.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente told Antena 3 television:
People are definitely struggling but if they clog up roads across the whole country, the security forces have to act.
ANGED, the association representing Spanish supermarkets, demanded that authorities “take the necessary measures to ensure the free movement of people and goods”, warning that the protests could have wider economic repercussions.
On Wednesday, transport sector federation Fenadismer said 80,000 lorries had been affected by the blockade, with an estimated cost of 120 million euros ($129 million).
Farmers across the EU say environmental rules make them less competitive with farmers in other regions. They also say they are stifled by taxes, red tape, high fuel prices and environmental demands under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the upcoming Green Deal.
The high volume of imports from Ukraine, for which the EU cancelled quotas and duties after the outbreak of military conflict in 2022, and the reopening of talks on a trade deal between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur have fuelled resentment over unfair competition.
The protests have eased in France and Germany so far, but they appear to be growing in intensity elsewhere in the EU. For example, in Italy groups of farmers have rallied outside Rome with their tractors.
On Monday, Dutch police took action to stop farmer demonstrations that were disrupting traffic across the Netherlands. Farmers blocked motorway exits and lit bonfires on those roads.
Earlier on Monday, Belgian and Dutch farmers used dozens of tractors to block a border crossing on the motorway between Maastricht and Liège, after similar actions were taken at various border crossings on Friday.
The farm workers’ protests are already taking place in 12 EU countries. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that these states produce more than half of Europe’s meat and 40 per cent of its grain.
