Protesting Greek farmers close roads, border, airport

Protesting farmers are causing chaos in Greece after their complaints about lengthy waits for European Union agriculture subsidies flared this week into blockades and pitched battles with police.

The unrest forced the closure of the international airport on the popular tourist island of Crete on Monday, and brought several major roads and border crossings to a standstill.

One farmer taking part in a protest on the island of Lesbos told the Reuters news agency he wanted to register his opposition to delays in EU funding reaching farmers, which began after a recent scandal, in which it was alleged public officials had illegally diverted millions of euros of EU funding to people who were not even farmers.

"We don't have help," Prokopis Bandzis told Reuters. "Climate change has influenced production a great deal, all of this with the (corruption) scandal. People who have nothing to do with the profession are getting enormous amounts. I want there to be justice. Those involved with the illegal subsidies need to account for (their actions)."

The farmers say there has been a 600-million-euro ($697-million) fall in the amount of EU financial support they have received since the corruption scandal broke earlier this year. And they believe the drop in funding is akin to them all being punished for the crimes of a few. Many farmers have reportedly been forced into debt because of the delays in funding, and some have said they can no longer afford to plant crops for the coming season.

The funding crisis comes as many farmers are also reeling from an unconnected outbreak of goat and sheep pox, which has led to hundreds of thousands of their animals being culled.

This week's protests have involved thousands of tractors and other pieces of farm equipment being used to block at least 20 key locations throughout the country. And there were reports of violence flaring at some of the blockades, including at Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport in Heraklion, Crete where police reportedly fired tear gas at protesting farmers who had occupied the runway and allegedly thrown stones at officers.

Local media said another group of protesting farmers had smashed the windows of police cars and overturned a vehicle, near Chania, Crete's second-largest city.

In the north of the Greek mainland, traffic was disrupted at Greece's Promachonas border crossing, which links the country with Bulgaria. And the border was also partially closed at the Kipi crossing, which links Greece with Turkiye. In southern Greece, protesting farmers have said they intend to block Volos port later this week. Farmers have also disrupted the port of Mytilene on Lesbos.

Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called on the farmers to end their protests and said the government wants to listen to their grievances. He also said his administration will distribute 3.7 billion euros to farmers later this year.

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