Farmers take pigs to the Palace

PIG FARMERS yesterday took truckloads of animals to the Presidential Palace in a effort to alert the president to their financial plight.

A senior official from the Panagrotikos Agriculture Association, Theodosis Tsangarides, said representatives had presented the farmers’ petition to presidential undersecretary Pantelis Kouros.

“Kouros listened to us with great attention,” Tsangarides said. “He said he would take our demands to the Cabinet meeting next week.”

Tsangarides added that Kouros had promised to give the farmers an answer on their demands by next Wednesday, assuring the protestors these would be met as soon as possible, “if the Ministers found them reasonable.”

Over 100 farmers with 30 pig-filled trucks demonstrated outside the Palace for just over an hour around midday.

The farmers are demanding additional government funding. Specifically, they want an immediate injection of cash to destroy a number of their pigs in order to redress the balance of supply and demand.

The petition suggested the slaughtered pigs be kept in freezers or disposed of at landfills.

In addition, farmers want a further £750,000 invested into pork exports on top of the £150,000 they have already received, and for the government to find them new markets.

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