Violence Rocks Poland As Farmers Protest Ukraine Food Imports And 'Green Deal' Regulations

Farmers in Warsaw protest on March 6 against EU "Green Deal" measures, and duty-free imports of Ukrainian food to Poland. 

A man is restrained by police during the protests outside the Polish parliament. 

Twenty-three people were detained during the unrest, in which police deployed pepper spray, batons, and stun grenades according to a Reuters witness. Protesters were seen throwing objects, including cobblestones, at police. 

Marchers outside the office of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on March 6. 

The Polish protesters are calling for an end to restrictions and expenses imposed on them by the EU's Green Deal, a plan to tackle climate change. 

Farmers' tractors block a highway between Lublin and Warsaw on March 6. 

Polish farmers are also calling for the return of customs duties on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine.

A man is forcefully detained by police during the protests. 

After Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Brussels lifted duty fees for all Ukrainian products imported into the EU. The measures offered a lifeline for Ukrainian farmers affected by war but resulted in food producers within the bloc being forced to compete with Ukrainian farmers not subject to the same red tape. 


 

A man reacts after being pepper sprayed during the protests. 

The EU's Green Deal initiative includes ambitious targets that include halving the use of pesticides and reducing the use of fertilizers in farming by 20 percent by 2030. 
 

The protest in Warsaw on March 6. 

Protests against increasing government involvement in agriculture have rocked Europe in recent months. 

Police in Prague, the Czech Republic, seen alongside piles of manure dumped outside government offices by protesting farmers on March 7. 

Along with ongoing protests in the Czech Republic, farmers surrounded the European Council building in Brussels in February, and thousands of German farmers shut down major roadways in January.

Police in Poland deploy pepper spray on protesters. 

Piotr Duda, the chairman of Poland's Solidarnosc, a trade union that began as an anti-communist movement told protesters in Warsaw that the EU "want to take away what we have won with hard work just because European leftists thought they would protect the planet."

Police seen during the March 6 protest in Warsaw. 

The European Union says its Green Deal is a part of the bloc's goal to reach "climate neutrality" by 2050, which Brussels says "underpins the EU's position as leading the way in the global fight against climate change."