Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

PROTESTS

MAP: Tractors return to Madrid as Spanish farmers’ protests continue

Tractors will once again convene in Madrid on Monday as Spain's agricultural protests continue, with traffic affected and road closures in the capital and around the country.

Published: 26 February 2024 10:29 CET
MAP: Tractors return to Madrid as Spanish farmers' protests continue
Demonstrators on their tractors leave the Plaza de la Independencia in Madrid. Photo: OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP.

As many as one hundred tractors and thousands of demonstrators are expected in Madrid on Monday as Spain’s agricultural protests continue. The unhappy farmers, who will be coming to the capital from across the country, will pass through Madrid city centre as part of wider calls for a relaxation of green policies, state aid to help with rising production costs, and increased protections against non-EU products undercutting them, among other demands.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Why are farmers in Spain protesting?

The tractor convoy is scheduled to leave from the Puente de Arganda at 09.00am on Monday and enter the capital via the N-3 motorway, Avenida del Mediterráneo, Ciudad de Barcelona, before convening at Paseo de Infanta Isabel, in front of the Ministry of Agriculture building.

The protest, the date of which was chosen to coincide with a meeting of the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers in Brussels, will then begin at 11.00 am, leaving from the Ministry of Agriculture along the Paseo del Prado before heading via Recoletos and Castellana and finally reaching the European Commission Office on Plaza de la Castellana in the Salamanca neighbourhood.

According to traffic updates from Spain’s Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) traffic is already slow at the M-300 entrance in La Poveda, and access may be affected at Arganda del Rey via the M-23, M-203 and M-208.

There are also some road closures across the rest of Spain on Monday as the protests continue, including reports of slow traffic this morning in Castilla y León, the Valencian Community, and Andalusia, specifically in the Cádiz area round A-7 and N-357 exits at Algeciras.

Road closures and affected traffic areas on Monday 26th February (as of 10:00am)

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

Spain’s agricultural protests are scheduled to continue for at least another month, with action provisionally scheduled in La Palma, Granada, and Cádiz through March, April, and May.

Protest calendar

26th February: Madrid
27th February: Córdoba
29th February: Málaga
1st March: La Palma
14th March: Granada
21st March: Granada
21st March: Cádiz
5th April: Granada
16th April: Granada
27th April: Granada
30th April: Granada
7th May: Granada
14th May: Granada
21st May: Granada
28th May: Granada

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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

SHOW COMMENTS