Farmers and their supporters in Poland on Wednesday clashed with police amid protests against food imports from Ukraine that they say threaten their livelihoods.
Police used tear gas and detained more than a dozen people to prevent the protesters from getting through to the Sejm, the Polish parliament.
Some protesters threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers, police said.
Photo: AFP
Farmers are angry over EU climate policies and food imports from Ukraine that they say threaten their livelihoods.
Such protests have occurred across the 27-member EU in the past few weeks, but this one was decidedly angrier than earlier demonstrations in the central European nation.
Police wrote on X that its officers “are not a party to the ongoing dispute,” and warned that behavior threatening their safety “cannot be taken lightly and requires a firm and decisive response.”
Photo: AFP
Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture Michal Kolodziejczak said he did not believe that “real, normal farmers caused a riot in front of the Sejm today,” and that it was necessary to isolate “provocateurs and troublemakers.”
He did not say who he thought was behind the violence.
Farmers on tractors blocked highways leading into Warsaw while thousands of people gathered in front of the prime minister’s office before marching to the parliament.
Photo: AP
Some trampled an EU flag and burned a mock coffin bearing the word “farmer.”
Farmers were joined by miners, foresters, hunters and others. They blew horns and set off firecrackers and smoke bombs, despite police warnings that the use of pyrotechnics was banned.
Some protesters burned tires.
The protesters are demanding a withdrawal from the EU’s Green Deal, a plan meant to fight climate change and protect biodiversity, including with plans requiring farmers to reduce use of chemicals to boost their crops.
The protests have led politicians to water down some provisions.
The protesters also want the border with Ukraine closed to stop the imports of Ukrainian food products, which farmers say drive down market prices and put Poland’s agricultural sector in jeopardy.
The protest increased pressure on the government of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council president.
Tusk has sought to meet the farmers’ demands, calling their frustrations justified.
He has said he plans to propose amendments to the Green Deal.
Authorities have said they are concerned that Russia is trying to leverage legitimate concerns to create divisions between Warsaw and Kyiv.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS