Farmers from across Catalonia - and beyond - are blocking main access routes across the Pyrenees mountains this Monday, June 3rd, with the aim putting pressure on the European institutions, with the European elections just days away. In protest actions that the organizers call "historic", significant number of farmers are mobilizing to demand measures to improve food security and strengthen their industry. With support from fifteen agricultural associations from Catalonia as well as from other parts of the Spanish and French states, farmers are moving from both sides of the border to cut major accesses along with length of the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Within Catalonia, as well as a protest obstructing the main AP7 motorway border crossing at La Jonquera, other highways being blocked include the routes the Coll d'Ares (between Ripollès and Northern Catalonia) and routes through Puigcerdà and the Val d'Aran. Beyond Catalonia, the passes of Sallent de Gállego and Canfranc in Aragón are being cut, and in the Basque Country, the crossing through Irun is being blockaded.
The protest, called by the Revolta Pagesa ("Farmers' Revolt") group, the protest is scheduled to last 24 hours. Farmers are demanding better food security over imported products, the prioritization of local agricultural production and reduced tax pressure on energy. However, the organizers have affirmed that they will allow private and emergency vehicles to pass.
Blocked highways
Since 9:30am this Monday, farmers have been blocking traffic on the AP-7 highway as it passes through Llers (specifically, at exit 3 of the AP-7, that of Figueres Nord), heading north to the frontier. One of the spokespeople for the Revolta Pagesa organizers, Martí Planas, estimated that around 150 tractors were taking part in this section of the protest, with vehicles entering at Figueres then headng towards the La Jonquera border. The Mossos d'Esquadra police were detouring traffic to alternative routes, the N-II and the A-II, according to the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT ). As well as the AP-7 in La Jonquera, this morning Catalan farmers established roadblocks on traffic along the C-38 in Coll d'Ares (Ripollès), the N-152 in Puigcerdà, the N-145 in La Seu d'Urgell and the N-230 in Bossòst (Aran Valley).
The Catalan Traffic Service reported that traffic was stopped at Coll d'Ares around 9:45am. In La Seu d'Urgell from 9:30 am, the tractors caused traffic congestion along the Ribera d'Urgellet.
The main AP7 border crossing, blocked at La Jonquera
Those targeting the main La Jonquera motorway crossing brought their vehicles up the highway to the actual frontier point that separates Spain and France, and were escorted by police as they did so. About 150 tractors approached from the southern Catalan side and six more from the Northern Catalonia or French side. The sector is demanding that so-called "mirror clauses" be applied to product imports from outside the EU as well as calling for a reduction in fiscal pressure on energy costs. "We have to save ourselves and be heard from Europe", said the Revolta Pagesa spokesperson, Martí Planas. "It is unjust that they demand from us, within the EU, an endless list of requirements, while outside countries whose produce comes here, are asked for nothing," he said.
Planas acknowledged that the timing of the protests, on the eve of the European elections, is to try to put pressure on the authorities. "Lately, we are in worse and worse shape, something must be done now," he said. Despite the small influx of farmers from the French side, Planas was satisfied with the response considering that it is a week "with a lot of work". "It's a one-day getaway and you have to make the effort," he said. Regarding the fact that the farmers union, Unió de Pagesos, has opted out of the protest, Planas says that "everyone" should be there and that "this is not about flags".
Lluís Llach, the newly-elected president of the pro-independence organization Catalan National Assembly (ANC), attended the farmers' protests in person. In the singer-songwriter's first public act in his new role, he showed his support for the farmers' cause: "We encourage our members to show their solidarity with the just demands that motivate the protesters".
Other Catalan highways blocked
As well, about 250 farmers cut the N-230 in Bossòst, at Catalonia's far northwest extreme in the Val d'Aran, as well as the nearby Portilhon mountain pass, in their protest. This blockade was total, and only medical, emergency or school transport vehicles were allowed to pass. Farmers from a number of different Catalan counties joined the Bossòst protest: Vall d'Aran, Pallars, Alta Ribagorça, Urgell, Pla d'Urgell, Les Garrigues and a small representation of farmers from Murcia. The spokesperson for Revolta Pagesa at Bossòst, Gerard Cardona, regretted that the French Gendarmerie had not authorized the entry of French farmers to join the Bossòst blockade. However, around 200 farmers from France blocked the highway at Pont de Rei. Every day, more than five hundred trucks pass through the N-230 (Val d'Aran).
The demonstrators in the Val d'Arran read a manifesto listing the main demands of the sector: the elimination of energy taxes, the call for the same requirements to be imposed on products from outside the European Union as on those from inside the EU, an improvement in food chain regulations and a European law giving preference for local products. Cardona regretted that no representative of the Spanish government has yet contacted the sector. The Catalan farmers also regretted that the only news they have now is from the French government, not the Spanish one.
Truck driver complaints
Goods carriers, hit by the farmers' protests, claim that the road closures cause an "obvious grievance" in their sector and demand "solutions" from the administration to guarantee the passage of vehicles. In a statement, carrier company associations CETCAT and COT, stressed that farmers' protests intending "to put pressure on the European Union authorities prior to the elections" will end up with the trucking companies "paying for " them. Everyone has the right to demonstrate, they said, but they regret that the consequences of the farmer highway blockades affect their sector, which cannot work normally.
Blockade of the Andorra border
As well, more than 200 farmers blocked the N-145 highway at La Farga de Moles, just south of the border with Andorra, from half past eleven this Monday morning. "It is very difficult for us to make a living", lamented Adrià Ubach, representative of the Alt Urgell farmers' protest platform, at the N-145 protest. This is the only one of those called around Catalonia that affects the border with Andorra. As with the rest, the intention is to keep traffic closed for 24 hours. No vehicles would be allowed to pass, with the exception of emergency services, they said. However, they guaranteed that Andorran students would be able to travel to Seu d'Urgell on Tuesday to take the Selectivitat, the university entrance exam.
40 litres of seafood broth and 25 kilos of rice
About 40 litres of seafood broth, 25 kilos of rice and 80 litres of water. Those are some of the ingredients for the arròs or paella dish that was prepared at midday for about 500 people at the main AP-7 blockade, at La Jonquera, to give some sustenance for those who closed the motorway in both directions since ten in the morning.