As many as 150,000 farmers, ranchers and hunters marched on Sunday through capital Madrid to demonstrate the Spanish center-left government’s failure to tackle soaring prices exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The mass demonstration came a day after thousands of demonstrators, called by the far-right Vox party, protested against rising food, energy and fuel prices.
Hoisting Spanish flags and blowing whistles, demonstrators walked Sunday through the central avenues of the capital, often led by tractors blaring their horns.
Slogans stamped on protest banners read “Costs continue to rise,” or “We are ranchers on the way to extinction” and “S.O.S rural world.”
The protest, which a government official estimated drew 150,000 people, was organized by the Rural Alliance, which says it represents 10 million people in Spain.
“This government is a ruin, fuel is getting more and more expensive,” Nora Guzman told AFP from atop a green tractor from Pozuelo de Alarcon, on the western outskirts of Madrid.
“Today is the start for looking for solutions,” Pedro Barato, head of the agricultural employers’ association Asaja, told journalists.
“Enough is enough, let the head of government stop travelling and start acting,” Barato added.
Producers complain of rising fuel and fertilizer prices at a time of low profits.
They also denounced Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government for pushing animal welfare regulations that restrict dog breeding or limit hunting.
“Today animals are protected more than people,” said Fernando Saez, a farmer from the southern city of Cordoba, accompanied by his hunting dog Cera.
People sit by a fountain in a park in Madrid, Spain on Saturday. Residents in Spain are trying to stay as cool as possible as forecasts showed weekend temperatures could rise above 40 C in large parts of the Iberian Peninsula. The heat is expected to scorch central south Spain on Saturday before spreading east over the next two days. Photo: VCG
