Polish farmers go on strike again, expanding range of protests

MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - Protesting Polish farmers will block highways in at least 170 places on January 24.

The strike involves not only the most important agricultural unions, but also other participants spontaneously joining it, Ukrainian media reported, citing farmer.pl.

The protests are coordinated by farmers from the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, who were the first to initiate the strike, set its date and called on other farmers to join them. They also made a map of strikes across the country and publicized it on social media.

"There will be protests across Poland by farmers who oppose the introduction of the Green Deal and the influx of goods from Ukraine. Wednesday's event will be primarily a 'drive-by' event. Tractors and other slow-moving vehicles and even pedestrians crossing the road are expected to block hundreds of highways from late morning until late evening," the Polish publication said.

The Polish agricultural sector is being ruined by the European Green Deal and environmental schemes, bureaucratic procedures imposed by the European Union, Tomasz Obrzanski of the NSZZ Solidarnosc Rolnikow Indywidualnych said. The situation is deteriorated by an influx of grain and other food products imported duty-free from Ukraine.

"Polish farmers are outraged by problems in the sales of their products, the shortage of processing and insist on subsidies for agricultural fuel," Obrzanski said.

The farmers' protest is expected to last two hours.