The agricultural protests once again blocked Murcian roads this Saturday, but the rapid and effective action of the security forces and bodies, and the peaceful tone of the demonstrations, prevented the blockades from lasting too long and the protests from turning into violent riots.
A far cry, therefore, from the traffic chaos of last Tuesday and Wednesday, when the 6F platform (the group leading the unauthorised rallies and outside the main agricultural associations) generated real traffic chaos after blocking, among other roads, the Puerto de la Cadena or the passage of workers and goods in the Escombreras Valley.
The most active group of the 6F platform was made up of around 70 farmers from Campo de Cartagena. A sort of itinerant commando, which moved around in their private cars and began to operate at 8.00 a.m. on the AP-7, at Los Alcázares. They remained there, with their yellow reflective waistcoats, for nearly two hours. First they agreed with the Guardia Civil on an intermittent passage of vehicles, every 10 minutes, but the arrival of about 40 riot police at 10.00 a.m. turned the tables and forced them, after a brief resistance, to completely re-establish traffic.
The cut in the Mediterranean motorway caused up to three kilometres of traffic jams as it is a very busy weekend access point to the beaches and second homes on the coast of Murcia and Alicante.
The group’s next target was the Mar Menor motorway. At around 13.00 hours they managed to block traffic on the RM-19, at Balsicas (Torre Pacheco), where they remained for an hour and a half. During this time, the farmers even inspected the lorries to check the origin of the goods.
Another controversial point was the presence of minors among the demonstrators, something that earned the reproach of the government delegate, Mariola Guevara. «The demonstrators are using minors, their children, who they are using as a shield; these families cannot put them at risk, invading roads where there could be an accident», said the delegate, who begged the farmers to stop involving these children in «illegal demonstrations».
The travelling protest continued to tour other parts of the Murcian coastline in the afternoon and at around 17.00 hours they appeared on the N-332 in La Zenia (Alicante), causing a traffic jam of several kilometres as it is also a very busy road at the weekend. The protesters were positioned just at the entrance to a roundabout that connects the N-332 with the access to the beaches and the AP-7.
«We are sorry for the inconvenience, but the situation is what it is, and we need visibility, and we will continue to do so until they throw us out,» Carmelo, a farmer from Torre Pacheco, told the media. «We are peaceful, we are not going to fight with anyone,» he said.
In addition to this group, very close to the leader of the 6F platform in the Region of Murcia, Diego Conesa, a small group of farmers and stockbreeders from the Noroeste region also made their presence felt. Early on Saturday morning they gathered at the crossroads of the Cavila industrial estate, with more than twenty tractors and a flock of more than 900 sheep, with which they managed to block the road and block the junction with the RM-703 towards Puebla de Don Fadrique and RM-711 towards Lorca.
After several conversations with the Guardia Civil, farmers and stockbreeders withdrew from the road, although they remained stationed for hours in the service area. At midday, the caravan of tractors went to the town of Caravaca, where they travelled along the main artery of the municipality and then moved on to Cavila, where the demonstration came to an end.
«The situation is unsustainable, diesel is sky-high, they won’t let you get water from any wells or springs, it’s a very hard and sad situation», Pedro, a rainfed farmer, told this newspaper. He also asked for more understanding on the part of the institutions. «We will continue on the streets until this problem is solved, our leaders have no fucking idea how the countryside works and are asking for things that are impossible to fulfil today», he lamented.
Pedro considers the cereal campaign to be lost, although he had hoped for «some relief with the rains forecast for Friday, but in the end nothing fell». In this sense, Víctor, another unirrigated farmer, stressed that «in addition to the obstacles that Europe is putting in the way and all the cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, in the unirrigated areas of Caravaca the concern is even greater, after two years without a harvest». According to this farm worker from the North West, «in the case of the almond tree there is also a lot of concern because we fear not only losing the crop, but also losing the tree and that would be catastrophic for the nut sector».
The Government Delegation gave a positive assessment of the day. The government delegate, and the senior commanders of the Guardia Civil and National Police, followed the minute by minute of the day from the Coordination Centre (CECOR). «There have been several points where some marches have been intercepted, but thanks to the great work carried out by the Guardia Civil and National Police, they have been resolved quickly,» said the delegate.