ByThe Associated Press
February 1, 2024, 9:52 AM
FILE – A farmer checks his phone as a tractor casts its shadow under a bridge on a blocked highway, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Chilly-Mazarin, south of Paris. French farmers maintained their protests on major roads around Paris and across the country on Wednesday as police was deployed to protect the capital, its airports and an international market. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
The Associated Press
Snow-dusted tractors lined up outside the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and nighttime protests in Romania marked by vivid national flags have become markers of a farmer protest movement across Europe.
The biggest demonstrations have been seen in France, where farmers blocked highways around Paris with their tractors, but the dayslong protests have spread across the European Union, highlighting deep-seated grievances within the agricultural sector.
The movement, triggered by concerns over low wages, heavy regulation and cheap imports, has involved farmers from Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania and Greece calling for action.
Lines of tractors rolled menacingly across a residential street in Poland and across a German bridge, while farming protesters in Italy burned spectacular nighttime fires by stone statues.
Convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors created chaos outside the European Union’s headquarters on Thursday demanding leaders at an EU summit provide relief from rising prices and bureaucracy.
It made for a dramatic display, creating disruptions and bringing the disgruntled farmers’ demands directly to the heart of EU policymaking.
Meanwhile, there were traffic barricades on highways around Paris amid a large police presence as French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced measures to quell the unrest.