Greek farmers head for Athens for protest against taxes

Violent clashes erupted in Greece as protesting farmers attempted to occupy the agriculture ministry in Athens on Friday (February 12).

Since mid-January more than 15,000 farmers have set up more than 60 blockades throughout Greece in key national highways junctions and border crossings closing traffic for several hours each day.

Greece and its creditors could complete the first review of the country’s latest bailout by Easter, but Athens needs to do more to complete controversial pension reform and other measures, the European Union said Thursday. This video was licensed from Grab Networks.

Numerous ministry’s windows were broken, while rubble from rocks and broken paving stones lay strewn around outside the building. They’re shown hitting the police with shepherd’s crooks and wearing masks against the tear gas.

Head coordinator of the farmers’ roadblocks, Vangelis Boutas, said: “We can not back down in this struggle because our future is at stake”.

A separate group of farmers targeted the Attiki Odos ring road and Markopoulo Avenue, which link the city to its airport, blocking the road and forcing some passengers with flights to catch to cover the distance on foot.

After being blindsided by both the size and ferocity of Friday’s protest in central Athens by farmers who oppose social security reforms, the government has renewed its appeal to the protesters to come to the negotiating table.

Yiannis Zacharias, a blockade organiser in northern Greece, said: “They are asking farmers to pay higher taxes even if they have no income…”

More farmers were heading to the capital to join the main rally, which was scheduled for the evening and was expected to test Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s resolve to push through unpopular reforms. “They were telling us that they support us, that they are fighting for the survival of the farmers… that young people need to return to their villages and work their land”.

Including the Cretans, farmers’ groups descended on Athens from at least three sides. “Whoever farms today, the only thing they will achieve is to have debts to the tax office”.

Derek Gatopoulos and Raphael Kominis in Athens contributed.