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High energy costs trigger unrest in parts of Europe

Published:Saturday | March 19, 2022 | 10:05 AM
A farmer sits on a tractor with a Greek flag during a protest outside of the Agriculture Ministry in Athens, Greece, on Friday, March 18, 2022. Greek farmers are protesting higher production costs, pressing the center-right government to reduce electricity bills and fuel tax and increase subsidies for animal farms. They gathered outside the ministry of agriculture and were planning to march from there to parliament in central Athens. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — High energy costs are stoking unrest in parts of Europe, with Spain deploying more than 23,000 police officers amid a truckers' strike and farmers in France and Greece snarling traffic with their protests.

Russia's war in Ukraine has further pushed up costs for oil and natural gas in Europe, driving record inflation and making it even more expensive for farmers and truckers to fuel their equipment and vehicles, afford fertiliser or keep up with other costs.

In Europe, which is dependent on Russian oil and natural gas, the war worsened an energy supply crunch that has driven up costs for households and businesses for months.

A group of mostly self-employed Spanish truckers walked off the job days ago over high fuel prices and other grievances, and it's devolved into attacks as most drivers continue working.

Police in patrol cars and helicopters escorted convoys of trucks along highways and held back picketers Friday, seeking to ensure products like dairy and cement kept moving as some sectors reported supply problems on the fifth day of the strike.

Picketers threw burning tires onto a highway overnight in northwestern Spain, national media reported. Police arrested six people and placed 34 others under investigation, the Interior Ministry said. Striking truckers also have been accused of throwing rocks at trucks that are still working this week, tearing cargo tarps, puncturing truck tires and threatening working drivers with violence.

In France, which has seen scattered protests this week against soaring fuel prices, a convoy of about 20 farmers on their tractors in the western Brittany region protested Friday by driving slowly down a highway and blockading a traffic circle, creating tailbacks to draw attention to their plight.

French road haulers and fishing crews have set up temporary barricades in recent days, using their vehicles and burning palettes to block roads.

And truckers drove through Berlin and other German cities Friday, honking their horns in protest at high fuel prices.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesting farmers blocked traffic in central Athens to demand the government grant them additional concessions to cope with high energy costs. Holding up vegetables and black flags, the protesters, some on tractors, gathered outside the Farm Ministry and planned to head to parliament in the centre of the capital.

In Spain, the government repeated its claims that far-right sympathisers are inciting the strike there. Finance Minister María Jesús Montero told reporters that the walkout amounts to “extortion, which the far-right is exploiting to prevent produce and food being distributed.”

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