Rural Spain Comes To Madrid As 1 Million Protestors Arrive
More of 300 groups and associations representing rural Spain, led by Alma Rural are expected in Madrid today, Sunday 23rd January, to protest against the government’s policies which they claim are destoying the sector.
Some 1 million people supported by forty tractors, 50 horses, 15 ox-drawn carts and working dogs are expected to bring much of central Madrid to a standstill in a route that goes down the Castellana to the Ministry of Agriculture in Atocha.
🚨INFORMACIÓN GENERAL PARA LA MANIFESTACIÓN DEL 23 DE ENERO
Haremos historia. Contamos todos. #YoVoyMadrid23DeEnero#unmillóndepersonasamadrid#profundamenterurales#DefiendeTuTierraDefiendeLoTuyo#elmundoruralnosevendesedefiende pic.twitter.com/3sothNKuhn
— Alma Rural (@AlmaRural2021) January 17, 2022
The organisers aim to bring their plight and the wider issue of rural depopulation to wider attention.
Under the slogan of The rural world is dying they hope to reverse government’s “inconsistent regulations” and form a united front against ” these attacks”.
Alma Rural hopes to bring pressure on the central government to repeal “unwise agricultural, environmental or social laws, regulations and policies that affect rural areas” and to become a central player in future decision making ” for which they demand that they be taken into account when legislating”
The umbrella group hopes to reverse decased of rural population decline with some 90% of the Spanish population now living in cities and urban areas.
“Our requests and demands are always”, they remember, “in defence of our activities and for the good of consumers and citizens, so we need that, in the same disposition, the consumer and society support and protect us , in order to continue developing our work and activities.
In their manifesto, Country Soul they aim to show “what is really happening in the countryside and what the rural world is suffering in order to bring a single clear voice to society: without the primary sector and without the rural world, Spain will stop being what it is today.”
