The organizer of the protest, Roman Kondruv, voiced the reason for the resumption of protests.
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According to him, since the preliminary protests, nothing has been done about the problem of technical grain from Ukraine.
He constantly arrives in Poland. Therefore, the farmers got angry and took to the streets. It’s not you, ordinary Ukrainians, but big businessmen who are running big money, leading the world and agrarian policy. Not you, ordinary Ukrainians, because you have no influence, you are suffering because of this war. We sympathize with you, but we cannot watch how the oligarchs use you and us in that political game. It is they who earn gigantic money, they turn around, multiply their capital. And you, poor Ukrainians, and we, Poles, Polish farmers, suffer from this.
The Poles demand stabilization in the country so that farmers can work normally. It is at this time, while everything stabilizes, that they want to block the border. Subsequently, when the market is liquid, they promise not to interfere with the import of any goods from Ukraine according to the old rules.
But today you have simply put us at a dead end, and we cannot allow it. Our markets are destroyed, we cannot sell our products anywhere, we sell below the market price,” the leader of the protest emphasized.
On the morning of February 9, Polish farmers blocked the Shegini checkpoint, preventing all types of transport from passing through. Protesters only let one truck through per hour.
This was stated by the speaker of the State Border Service Andrei Demchenko during the telethon.
According to him, this morning farmers began blocking the checkpoint on the border with Ukraine – “Medica – Shegini”.
Moreover, they blocked traffic not only for trucks, but also for other categories of transport, such as cars and buses.
So far, at this checkpoint there is no traffic either leaving Poland or entering Poland.
Railway blocking
In addition, for the first time, Polish farmers will block the export of Ukrainian goods by rail.
Starting February 9, Polish farmers will prevent the unloading of agricultural products from Ukraine at the Hrubieszow-Vladimir-Volynsky checkpoint.
According to information from the Polish side, local farmers have declared their intention from today, February 9, at the checkpoint “Hrubieszow – Vladimir-Volynsky” (st. “Izov”) to prevent the transshipment of Ukrainian agricultural goods from rail to road transport and their movement to terminals at Hrubieszow station, the State Customs Service reported.
At the same time, it is noted that cargo of other categories will be moved without restrictions.
Warsaw’s position
Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sekierski said that in some areas a complete block of imports from Ukraine would be required, as in the case of grains. In his opinion, protests by farmers on the borders with Ukraine are acceptable. A Polish official said this on Polskie radio.
According to the minister, a complete block of imports from Ukraine, in particular sugar and poultry meat, may be required; the department is currently analyzing such a need. The Polish Ministry will present its demands to the European Commission, and also wants to consolidate them in relations with Ukraine.
We will clearly negotiate to the end, because the right is on the side of the farmers and the Ministry of Agriculture, which has a similar position towards farmers,” he added.
As Sekierski said, the protests of Polish, French and German farmers “greatly helped” Poland in putting pressure on the European Commission, so he considers these acceptable forms of protest.
Farmers have legitimate concerns, expectations and demands to limit the excessive flow of goods from Ukraine, as well as from other non-European markets into the EU, especially Poland, the minister said.
According to him, Poland and other border countries were most affected by the EU’s decision to liberalize trade by allowing goods from Ukraine to enter without duties.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.