'Without us, you don’t eat': Greek farmers ride some 200 tractors to Athens to demand financial help

Greek farmers have ridden some 200 tractors to the capital, Athens, demanding financial help from the government as cost of living spiked in the Mediterranean country

Greek farmers rode Tuesday some 200 tractors to the capital, Athens, demanding financial help from the government as cost of living spiked in the Mediterranean country.

With horns blaring, the slow-moving convoy moved from the central Greek town of Kastro, 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) northwest of Athens, with Greek flags, black flags and protest banners fastened to the tractors. One read: “Without us, you don’t eat.”

Some farmers carried mock coffins and funeral garlands as symbols of their plight, as they parked their tractors in front of the parliament building in the capital, where tourists usually gather to watch the changing of the guard ceremony. They also waved flares while chanting: “Don’t bow your heads.”

Several thousand protesters made their way to the city center after traveling on chartered buses and ferries.

The farmers — whose demands are similar to those at widespread farmer protests elsewhere in Europe — have spent weeks staging sporadic blockades along highways and in rural towns. Farmers in central Greece are also still reeling from major floods that hit central parts of the country last fall.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a television interview late Monday, said he could not support additional tax breaks and concessions but insisted his center-right government wanted to continue discussions with the protesters.

The government took back a previous threat to block the protest. Police were deployed to help divert highway traffic.