Polish farmers have blocked the S3 highway, which runs through three voivodeships to the Baltic Sea coast near Szczecin, in protest. This was reported by the online portal Interia.pl.
Several hundred people are participating in the protest, blocking the highway with dozens of tractors, combines and other agricultural machinery. The main demand of the protesters is to limit the supplies of agricultural products from Ukraine and the countries of the South American Common Market (MERCOSUR).
“We do not agree with the simple elimination of us, the farmers who produce healthy and safe food“, the portal quoted the organizer of the protest, Pawel Toporek, as saying. He said that the protest would continue until Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responds to the farmers' demands. “Everyone sees, knows, hears, understands, but no one does anything“, Toporek commented on the position of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture regarding the situation of Polish farmers, who are unable to compete with cheap agricultural products from Ukraine and the MERCOSUR countries.
Polish farmers have been protesting for years against trucks carrying agricultural products from Ukraine entering their country. They have repeatedly stated that this is harmful to local businesses. In protest, farmers have previously resorted to completely blocking Ukrainian trucks from entering Polish border crossings.