Farmers protest to continue in Rome says Calvani

The leader of one of the groups of farmers who have been staging protests with their tractors to draw attention to their plight as part of Europe-wide demonstrations said Saturday that a new protest will take place at Rome's Circus Maximus arena next Thursday, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

Danilo Calvani, the leader of Cra Agricoltori 'Betrayed Farmers' group, said the protests would not stop after Premier Giorgia Meloni met agricultural associations on Friday and pledged to help them and the

EU dropped a proposed law to make farmers cut the use of pesticides by half by 2030.
"There will be at least 20,000 people," said Calvani, announcing next Thursday's protest.
"A group of our tractors will depart in a convoy from Cecchina and reach the heart of Rome, going as far as Circus Maximus.

"There should be about 15 vehicles, escorted by the forces of law order.

"Thursday's will only be the first of our demonstrations.

Our protest will go on".

A handful of tractors went into central Rome on Friday, parading around the Colosseum, and a bigger protest was staged on the city's GRA motorway ring road in the evening.

But farmers who went to protest at Sanremo have gone away after the presenter of the Sanremo Song Festival, Amadeus, read out a statement by stressing that they were not seeking additional subsidies or handouts, but measures to make sure they get a fair price for their produce, saying their revenues often do not cover their production costs at the moment.

The farmers from another protest group, Riscatto, are pondering their next move, although sources said they are reasonably satisfied with Friday's developments.

These include the government saying it would drop plans to scrap an exemption on income-tax Irpef for farmers and would change it instead so it is better targeted to those in need.