- Agricultural “Solidarity” announces a “star raid” on every provincial city in Poland
- Poznań can expect a siege. Protests are planned in 40 places around the city
- In Warsaw, blockades of entry roads from the north and east have been planned for now
- Farmers are not convinced by the concessions from Brussels announced on Friday. Among other things, it is to be abolished: compulsory fallowing of land
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Farmers’ protests have been going on in Poland for weeks. The last major one took place on March 6 in Warsaw, when hunters and trade unionists from the workers’ “Solidarity” movement also came to the capital with support. There was a battle with the police in front of the Sejm. Firecrackers, flares and paving stones were set in motion, and the officers responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
Farmers’ representatives emphasize that they do not intend to end the protest. The next big event is announced for Wednesday, March 20. Then a nationwide general strike is to begin and will last 30 days.
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Poznań under siege, blockades in other cities
Agricultural “Solidarity” has already announced that on Wednesday there will be a “star raid on every provincial city.” Access roads to the largest centers are to be blocked.
The Young Farmers’ Movement, established a few days ago and collecting data on grassroots demonstrations, reported on Sunday that 271 protests had already been registered across Poland.
Poznań can expect a real siege. The organization Rola Wielkopolski announces protests in 40 locations around the city.
The blockade is also to take place in Bydgoszcz. Farmers want to paralyze traffic on the bypass and roads leading out of the city, as well as on the bridge over the Vistula. The meeting is to be held in front of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Office, reports Topagrar.pl. A complete blockade of access roads to the city is also planned, among others. in Lublin.
Protests are to appear on the S7 and S8 expressways. In Warsaw, blockades of entry roads from the north and east and the junction at the intersection of the S2 route and provincial road 801 on the right bank of the Vistula have been planned so far.
— The president could have allowed our tractors to enter the Sejm earlier. We were supposed to protest in a civilized manner in front of politicians’ offices. Every farmer would be safe in the cabin. Meanwhile, our colleagues were gassed, beaten and labeled hooligans, said Mateusz Żurawiński, one of the organizers of the blockade of Warsaw, in an interview with Wirtualna Polska, referring to the protests in the capital on March 6. The mayor of Warsaw did not agree to allow tractors to enter the city.
The EU is introducing changes under pressure from protests
Farmers are not convinced by the concessions made so far by the European Union. On Friday, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski announced that Brussels was abandoning mandatory fallowing and pesticide restrictions, which had angered protesters. Instead of orders and bans, there will be financial incentives for farmers.
As the EU commissioner said, instead of mandatory crop rotation, Member States will be able to offer farmers crop diversification. Farms with an area of 10 to 30 ha will be obliged to grow two plant species, and larger farms above 30 ha will be obliged to grow three. Farms with an area of up to 10 ha will be exempt from this requirement.
The same farms will be able to be exempted by Member States from ecological control, which, as Wojciechowski pointed out, is particularly important for Polish farmers because it concerns three quarters of all farms in Poland.
The commissioner announced that the expected changes are to enter into force in 2025, but farmers who do not comply with the requirements formally in force this year “will not incur any sanctions for this reason.”