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PROTESTS

Hundreds of tractors descend on Barcelona on second day of Spain’s farmer protests

Thousands of farmers used tractors to block roads across Spain on Wednesday for the second day running, with farmers in Barcelona attempting to bring the city to a standstill by blocking its city centre and main access point.

Published: 7 February 2024 16:28 CET
Hundreds of tractors descend on Barcelona on second day of Spain's farmer protests
Farmers drive their tractors during a protest over farmers conditions ans European agricultural policy on the highway, north of Barcelona, on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP)

Farmers gathered at dawn on dozens of roads, snarling traffic, mainly in Andalusia in the south and the northeastern region of Catalonia and Navarra in the north, according to the Spanish General Directorate for Road Traffic (DGT).

In Catalonia, farmers from Lleida, Girona and Tarragona are slowly taking their tractors to Barcelona with the aim of causing gridlock on the main access roads to the Catalan capital and in the city centre, before meeting in front of the headquarters of the regional government.

There farming representatives will meet with Catalan president Pere Aragonès and the regional climate action, food and rural affairs minister David Mascort. 

So far, farmers have been welcomed with applauses from bystanders in the Catalan capital.

Murcia, Extremadura, Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Valencia , Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón and Andalusia are the nine other regions affected by the protests so far, with more set to follow in the coming days.

Farmers plan to block Barcelona with tractors in a mass protest against European agricultural policy. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP)

 

Tractors were used to block roads leading to the southern port of Málaga in Andalusia, authorities said.

MAP: Where are farmers blocking roads on Wednesday?

Spain’s three main agricultural unions, Asaja, Coag and UPA, did not initiate the demonstrations which began on Tuesday. T

hey have planned other protests this week, including Thursday in Salamanca in the northwest and Friday in the northern city of Bilbao.

Angry farmers have been protesting across Europe over rising costs, high fuel prices, bureaucracy and the environmental requirements in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its forthcoming “Green Deal”.

The three unions – who say the CAP is too complex and allows unfair foreign competition – held emergency talks on Friday with Agriculture Minister Luis Planas, who agreed to work on a response.

READ ALSO: How long will the farmers’ roadblocks in Spain last?

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told parliament on Wednesday that he was “on the side of the farmers” and highlighted measures his government has adopted in recent years to support the sector, especially in the face of a long drought.

He vowed to simplify rules for the implementation of the CAP, and to improve laws aimed at preventing farmers from selling products at a loss.

Spain is one of Europe’s leading producers of fruit and vegetables.

But its agricultural sector faces difficulties, largely due to a lack of rainfall that has plagued the Iberian peninsula for the last three years.

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PROTESTS

In Images: Tenerife protesters call for marine theme park to ’empty the tanks’ 

Several weeks after huge anti-mass tourism protests on the Spanish island of Tenerife, environmentalists have targeted one of the island’s main tourist attractions - the Loro Parque zoo and marine park - which is owned by a German millionaire.

Published: 13 May 2024 13:13 CEST
In Images: Tenerife protesters call for marine theme park to 'empty the tanks' 

Dozens of protesters gathered at the gates of Loro Parque in the touristy town of Puerto de La Cruz on Saturday, shouting “stop animal exploitation”. 

Loro Parque is one of the top tourist attractions in Tenerife, starting off as a parrot sanctuary in 1972 but evolving into a zoo and SeaWorld-style marine complex which receives several million visitors a year. 

The owner of Loro Parque is 87-year-old German national Wolfgang Kiessling, the wealthiest man in Tenerife with an estimated net worth of €370 million.

Loro Parque’s owner Wolfgang Kiessling is the 169th wealthiest person in Spain. (Photo by DESIREE MARTIN / AFP)

Loro Park gained international notoriety after the release of the 2013 documentary Blackfish, which looked at the treatment of killer whales in captivity, and which partly focused on the death of an orca trainer in 2009 at Tenerife’s Loro Parque after being attacked by one of the animals. 

Protesters carried signs that read “no to animal abuse”, “those born to swim in oceans should not do so in tears” and “don’t lie to your child, there is no happiness in slavery”. 

There are currently four orcas at Tenerife’s Loro Parque. (Photo by DESIREE MARTIN / AFP)

The rally promoted by environmentalist group ‘Empty the tanks’ was held in 60 cities around the world on Saturday to demand the release of dolphins and orcas.

Protesters booed the Loro Parque train that took holidaymakers as it approached the facilities while showing them banners that read “tourist, what you pay is for slaughtered orcas” or “this shit at Loro Park is going to end” are other signs that were carried.

A half empty Loro Parque train faces the wrath of protesters calling for the park’s orcas to be released. (Photo by DESIREE MARTIN / AFP)

In late April, Kiessling released a controversial video in which he attacked environmentalists, stating: “They want us to live like vegans, not to have pets, not to use leather bags or shoes, and they also want to influence our holidays so that we do not visit zoos”.

He added: “A new industry has been born. They call themselves environmentalists, but they are not. They are just people in search of wealth. They want to change our world, live vegan, not wear wool, not drink milk, not ride horses, not have pets, not visit zoos”.

The Loro Parque has received large subsidies from the Canary government and benefited from tax incentives that allows them to pay taxes on only 10 percent of the profits. 

Billboards and dustbins across the island have promotional posters of Loro Parque on them, describing it as “the must-see of the Canaries”. 

A sign reads “Is suffering educational?” at another “Empty the Tanks” protest held outside Loro Parque in 2015. (Photo by DESIREE MARTIN / AFP)

The animal rights protest against Loro Parque comes just four weeks after thousands of canarios took to the streets of their eight islands to call for an end to mass tourism.

READ ALSO: ‘The island can’t take it anymore’: Why Tenerife is rejecting mass tourism

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