A protest rally at Syntagma Square concluded on Tuesday evening with farmers from all of Greece calling on the government to meet their demands.
At least 6,500 participants with over 160 tractors and agricultural machinery were at Syntagma, according to estimates, while 112 buses transported farmers from several regions to Athens.
Their consistent demands were for a lower fuel price, a drop of electricity cost to 7 cents/KW, and subsidies for fertilizers, animal feed, and equipment. They said that the measures announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis when he met with the Panhellenic Blockades Committee are not enough.
Farmers also spoke of cheap imports from non-EU countries that are of doubtful quality and resold at higher prices as Greek. "This year, when our animal capital was reduced, where did the milk come from, and not only that, the price the farmers were paid fell?"
Meeting PM
Rallying farmers will stay in their tractors overnight and leave the center of Athens at 11:00 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, they will hold general assemblies at the blockades to inform other farmers and to decide about future mobilizations.
Thessaly farmers noted that they expected to meet with the prime minister in the coming week, to discuss specifically the Thessaly plain that was destroyed by the storm 'Daniel'.