Farmers protesting over delayed subsidy payments forced their way into the airfield of Greece’s international airport on the southern island of Crete on Monday, avoiding riot police who used tear gas and stun grenades to stop them.
Local media footage showed dozens of farmers standing on the apron of Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport in Crete’s main city, Heraklion, which was forced to suspend all flights.
Clashes also broke out near the airport in Chania, Crete’s second largest city, with riot police using tear gas to disperse protesting farmers, who threw stones and overturned a police patrol car, local media reported. Two people were reportedly injured in the collision.
The demonstrations in Crete are the latest intensification of farmers’ protests over delayed payments of European Union-backed agricultural subsidies, following a scandal that revealed fraudulent claims for subsidies.
Farmers have deployed thousands of tractors and other agricultural vehicles at border crossings and strategic points along highways across the country, regularly blocking traffic and threatening to completely block roads, ports and airports.
On Friday, riot police fired tear gas at protesting farmers trying to block the main access road to the international airport on the outskirts of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.
Police have diverted traffic to avoid the blockade in several parts of northern and central Greece, but barricades by farmers are already blocking truck traffic on the country’s northern borders with Bulgaria, Turkey and North Macedonia, causing long queues of cargo vehicles.
“Everyone needs to understand that problems will be resolved through dialogue and that there are lines that should not be crossed,” Greek Minister of Rural Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras said on state television on Monday.
payment delay
The payment delays come as authorities scrutinize all claims for EU agricultural subsidies following revelations of widespread fraud.
Protesters say the delay amounts to collective punishment, leaving honest farmers in debt and unable to plant rice for next season.
Greece’s agricultural sector has also been hit hard this year, with outbreaks of goat pox and sheep pox leading to mass culling of livestock.
Security Minister Michalis Krishokoidis said last week that the government was open to talks with protest leaders, but warned that it would not tolerate shutting down major transport links.
Farmer protests have been frequent in Greece, and similar blockades have been in place in the past, sometimes cutting off all road traffic between the country’s north and south for weeks.
Five senior government officials resigned in June following the subsidy scandal, and the state agency that handles agricultural subsidies was gradually shut down.
Dozens of people have been arrested on suspicion of making false claims in response to an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).
A preliminary investigation by the EPPO has identified approximately 324 people as beneficiaries of subsidies totaling β¬19.6 million.
The EU’s independent body for fighting financial crime announced in late October that the investigation was linked to a “organized large-scale subsidy fraud scheme and money laundering operation”.
Additional sources of information β’ AP