Participants at a farmers’ protest in the Polish capital have thrown paving stones at police and tried to push through barriers around the parliament building, injuring several officers, authorities said.
Police said they detained several dozen people and prevented the protesters from getting through to the Sejm, the Polish parliament, in Warsaw.
The developments marked an escalation in the protests of recent weeks by farmers who have been angered by European Union policies and food imports from Ukraine that they say threaten their livelihoods.
The statement said: “Behaviour that threatens the safety of our officers, including throwing paving stones at them, cannot be taken lightly and requires a firm and decisive response.”
Farmers on tractors blocked major roads leading into Warsaw on Wednesday while thousands of their supporters gathered in front of the Prime Minister’s office. Some trampled a European Union flag and burned a mock coffin bearing the word “farmer.”
The protesters are demanding a withdrawal from the EU’s Green Deal, a plan meant to fight climate change with measures that farmers denounce as excessively costly.
Such protests have occurred across the 27-member EU, but this one seemed to be angrier than earlier demonstrations in the central European nation.
Farmers were joined by miners, foresters, hunters and other supporters. They blew horns and set off firecrackers and smoke bombs, despite police warnings that the use of pyrotechnics was banned. Some protesters burned tyres.
The protest increased the pressure on the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former president of the European Council who is strongly pro-EU and seeks to support Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion.
He said this week: “Environmental protection cannot and does not have to be in conflict with food production.”
Mr Tusk is also trying to address the anger caused by an influx of Ukrainian grain and other food, which Polish farmers say drive down market prices and put Poland’s agricultural sector in jeopardy.
They seek a ban on the Ukrainian imports and are angry at the EU for lifting tariffs on them while Ukraine – a major food producer – sought ways get its food to global markets.
Despite Mr Tusk’s overtures to farmers, the protest had a strongly anti-government feeling, with slogans on some posters denouncing him.
