Hundreds of farmers, some of them with their tractors, descended on downtown Skopje today to protest the lackluster payment of farming subsidies and the low prices for their products. Police deployed on the Goce Delcev bridge with the aim of blocking their protest and preventing them from reaching the Government building which was the planned destination of the rally.

We are not here to engage in politics We want the subsidies so the we can invest in our stalls and in seeds. We are waiting for months to be paid, said Borce Bucinski, one of the protest organizers. Some of the farmers carried signs calling out Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Government for failing to uphold their promises.

 

The Government had attempted to deflate the protests by giving money to select groups of farmers, such as the rice growers and the dairy farmers. Agriculture Minister Trajan Dimkovski denied that the timing of the partial payments is linked to the protest and the Government’s desire to reduce the swelling anger.

The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party endorsed the protest.

VMRO-DPMNE will defend the interests of the farmers and we are putting in place policies to improve their standards. No matter what accusations come from the Agriculture Minister, he can’t hide the act that his policies have impoverished the farmers. We have stood by them and we will continue to stand by them, said VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski.