Dozens of tractors and farm vehicles arrived a short while ago at the port of Thessaloniki to take part in a demonstration. The farmers reached the port of Thessaloniki and drove through the city’s main streets using their horns and smoke flares, while people recorded them on their phones.

Farmers, livestock breeders, and beekeepers from various parts of Northern Greece headed toward the port to hold a symbolic blockade. According to information, tractors arrived from the roadblock at the Malgara toll station, from “Prasina Fanaria,” and possibly from other areas.

Police say at least 1,000 people are participating in the demonstration, along with about 100 tractors and farm vehicles. Farmers from the Thessaly roadblock will also head toward the port by car, as well as participants from Imathia, Pella, and other areas of Central Macedonia. In addition, farmers and farm vehicles from Kastoria, Grevena, and Kozani have gone to the Malgara roadblock and will arrive together with the others. Shortly before the farmers reached the port, the authorities closed the port gates. A demonstration will also be held at the port by labor unions supporting the farmers’ action. Police measures have significantly increased.

Dozens of tractors and hundreds of agricultural vehicles are expected to arrive in a few hours at the port of Thessaloniki to hold a rally.

Farmers, livestock farmers, and beekeepers from various regions of northern Greece will move en masse towards the port in a symbolic blockade.

According to reports, they will arrive with tractors from the blockade at the Malgara toll road,  and possibly from other areas. The movement of all agricultural vehicles that will enter the urban fabric of Thessaloniki and end up at the port will be coordinated and accompanied by the Thessaloniki Traffic Police.

Farmers from the Thessaly blockade will also move towards the port with cars as well as from Imathia, Pella and other areas of Central Macedonia. In addition, farmers and agricultural vehicles from Kastoria, Grevena and Kozani have gone to the Malgara blockade and will arrive with the rest.

It is noted that a rally will also be held at the port by labor unions that support the mobilization of farmers.

The measures of the National Police have been particularly increased.

Due to the mobilisation, blockades will not take place at many places today

Meanwhile, due to today’s mobilization, no road blockades will be carried out, nor will there be any other parallel actions, at least in most places. The next movement of farmers will be determined in the general assemblies that will follow, in conjunction with the meeting of the Panhellenic Blockade Committee, scheduled for tomorrow at 12.00 in Nikaia, Larissa.

The picture in Imathia – Pella and Pieria

A symbolic blockade of the bypass roads from 11 am is being carried out by producers at the agricultural blockade at the Kouloura junction. During the blockade, the producers will distribute peach compote to motorists, as the president of the Agricultural Association of Veroia, Tasos Chalkidis, told APE-MPA. It is stressed that the restriction of traffic on the bypass roads effectively breaks the passage to Veria, especially due to the rural blockade at the Nseliou junction of Imathia, where the current on the Egnatia Odos and towards the city has been closed indefinitely.

Since 3/12, the current route towards Veroia on the Egnatia Road has been blocked indefinitely by farmers from Alexandria who set up a blockade at the Nseliou junction. The farmers kept open a passage exclusively for emergency vehicles, while farmers and farmers from Krya Vrysi, Pella prefecture, rushed to the spot with their tractors and agricultural vehicles.

The agro-farmers’ blockades remain at the junction of Gypsochori Pella on the Thessaloniki-Edessa highway, while farmers from Vegoritida and Kaimaktsalan have lined up their tractors at the “Chain” position at the junction of Drosia Pella.

The producers of Skydra are also mobilizing. Farmers from the municipality of Almopia have set up an agricultural blockade at the entrance of Aridaia and their Edessa colleagues are firmly on the ring road, at the point “Lanterns”.

In Pieria, farmers of Aeginio have set up their own blockade at the entrance of the town and for today at noon they have planned a symbolic blockade on the old highway Thessaloniki-Katerini, while at the Variko junction are with their tractors and agricultural vehicles producers of Dion-Olympos.

The agricultural blockades in “Green Lanterns – Derveni – Malgara and Chalkidona

The tractors and agricultural vehicles of farmers and livestock farmers remain lined up at the “Green Lanterns”, at the junction of the intersection before Macedonia airport. A few meters ahead, police vehicles remain installed horizontally on the roadway, thus preventing any crossing of producers at the airport junction.

The agro-farming blockade set up by producers at the junction of Derveni, at the junction of the old Thessaloniki-Kavala highway with other major roads, including the one leading to Nea Santa Kilkis, remains in place. Farmers of the municipality of Delta and the wider region remain at the Malgaron toll road on the Athens-Thessaloniki highway, and since 1 December, they have kept the road to Athens closed, while the road to Thessaloniki is opened and closed periodically. The blockade of Chalkidona, on the old Thessaloniki-Edessa National Road, remains in place.

The participants of the first blockade set up in the prefecture of Halkidiki at the traffic lights of Nikiti, in Sithonia, remain at the site and, according to their general meeting, will participate in today’s mobilization at the port of Thessaloniki.

What is happening in Drama and Kavala

A four-hour blockade, starting at one o’clock in the afternoon, is being carried out by farmers who have set up their blockade at the Kokkinogia-Prosotsani intersection, which is a central point of connection between the settlements of the region and leads to the Greek-Bulgarian border, the Exaplatanou crossing, and the city of Drama.

It is stressed that in the prefecture of Kavala, three roadblocks have been set up in Chrysoupoli at the Ancient Theatre of Philippi and at the junction of Mousthenis on the Egnatia road.

The indefinite blockade continues at the Kerdyllia junction on the Egnatia Road, Kerdyllia – Serres (both directions of traffic), by farmers and livestock farmers of Serres prefecture. The traffic and passage at the point is now only possible from the bypass roads for all vehicles and trucks.

The agricultural and livestock blockades in Western Macedonia

Farmers and livestock farmers of Western Macedonia remain with their tractors at the blockade of Baras Siatista on the Egnatia road, and the point is being reinforced daily. The movement of passenger vehicles and trucks is bypassing the old national road Kozani-Kastoria.

Every day, farmers and livestock farmers at the point distribute various agro-food products to passing motorists, while in a general meeting held with the participation of representatives from other labor unions of Western Macedonia, a general strike was decided on 16/12. The meeting was attended by 67 unions from all over Western Macedonia, and the “present” were mayors, regional and municipal councillors, as pointed out to APE-MPE by the livestock farmer Dimitris Moschos, a member of the coordinating committee at the Siatista blockade. Stable in the blockade set up at the junction of Filota, on the vertical axis Kozani-Florina of the Pan-European Axis X, remain farmers, breeders, and beekeepers.