Over a hundred blockades. Farmers will take to the roads across Poland on Tuesday
On February 20, farmers will organize over 100 blockades in all regions of the country. Information about where to expect difficulties can be found on city websites and in police announcements.
Agricultural protests will make life difficult for drivers across Poland on Tuesday, February 20. Farmers announced a total of over a hundred blockades. Tractors and tractors will appear in both provincial and district cities. For example, in Wrocław, a protest is planned at the entrance to the A4 motorway, as well as the S3 and S5 expressways. In Bydgoszcz – in front of the Provincial Office, and near Poznań, tractors are to block the entrances and exits to the A2 motorway.
Farmers’ protest on February 20
Information about blockade locations can be found, among others, at: on the websites of city offices and the police. The Nowy Sącz police warn of difficulties that drivers will have to face on Tuesday, February 20, on the streets of Stary Sącz and Nowy Sącz and on the access roads to these towns.
“On February 20 this year according to the organizer’s notification, the protest action will start at 9:30 a.m. with a meeting in the parking lot at the Papal Altar in Stary Sącz. At 10:00 a.m. a holy mass will be celebrated there, and after 11:00 a protest column will begin to form. Agricultural vehicles will move along national road No. 87 towards Nowy Sącz,” we read in a statement from the Municipal Police Headquarters in Nowy Sącz. “According to the information provided by the organizer, the protest may last until 4 p.m. Bearing in mind that these will be rush hours, traffic disruptions should be expected.”
In the vicinity of Krakow, traffic disruptions are expected on sections of provincial roads 774, 780 and 776. A protest is also planned on the area of national road 44.
Protests are planned in the Krakow district on the following road sections:
· in Skawina, from the early morning hours, there will be a crossing on the section from the Studziński junction (intersection of ul. Krakowska with DK 44), then ul. Skotnicka in Kraków, where farmers are to turn back.
· in the Liszki commune, the farmers’ meeting will take place at 11:00 in the parking lot next to the pizzeria, where the participants will be divided into two groups. The first group is to take the provincial road 774 towards the town of Liszki, then they will go towards the town of Kraków along the provincial road 780. The second group is to take the road 774 towards the MPL Kraków-Balice airport. They are supposed to go there from the roundabout at the military unit to the roundabout at ul. To the airport (roundabout under the motorway viaduct).
The farmers’ protest in Piotrków Trybunalski will start tomorrow, February 20, at 11. Farmers will meet on the square in front of the former Agricultural Advisory Center at ul. Kasztelańska No. 9, and then they will drive tractors to the Piotrków Zachód transport hub, which connects the S8 expressway with the A1 motorway. Then they will head towards the Piotrków Wschód junction (former Bełchatów junction), where they will turn around. The protest may last up to several hours.
The District Police Headquarters in Zgierz informs that farmers will also appear in the vicinity of Zgierz. Drivers must also be careful in Emila. Here, the roundabout on national road 91, the entrance to the S14 and A2, and the roundabout from the S14 to the A2 will be blocked. Protesters will also be in Leonów and will block provincial road 702 and the entrance to A2. Additionally, on February 20, the roundabout in Sosnowiec will be blocked from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kołodziejczak: the protests have valid demands
Farmers demand, among other things, limiting or even stopping imports of agricultural goods from Ukraine and withdrawing from the European Green Deal.
– The government does not support the protests, but this time farmers are protesting for a good cause. The situation in terms of their income level is very difficult – Minister of Agriculture Czesław Siekierski said yesterday on Radio Zet. – If they report it, everything will be justified, they will allow some cars to pass at certain times… The idea is for farmers not only to block, but also to inform about the difficult situation and obtain public opinion – he added.
Siekierski’s deputy in the ministry, Michał Kołodziejczak, spoke about the protests. – These protests have very valid demands, they strengthen the government’s voice (…) They show how much negligence has been done so far – said the deputy minister of agriculture in the Trójka Political Salon.
Kołodziejczak drew attention to issues related to the Green Deal that arouse farmers’ dissatisfaction. – If there are regulations that say that in 2030, farmers are to set aside 10 percent. land and Commissioner Wojciechowski signs it, then it is turned on its head, it needs to be put on its feet. Agricultural land cannot be set aside – said the deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture on Radio Three.
