Tractor protest blocks traffic in Rome

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 20 - Farmers in tractors protesting against European and national agricultural policies and general hardship blocked a consular road in Rome on Tuesday, causing disruption to traffic.
    The tractors blocked Via Nomentana leading northeast out of the capital, near a rallying point set up at the height of protests by farmers earlier this month.
    They were on their way back to base after a procession reportedly involving 150 vehicles in the direction of the nearby town of Monterotondo.
    Earlier in the day two tractors departed from the same rallying point for a separate protest in Piazza della Repubblica in the city centre.
    "There is a good turnout and other participants are arriving," said Roberto rosati, one of the organizers.
    "We have blocked the traffic because we want answers," added another leader, Salvatore Fais.
    "The agriculture minister must receive us," he said.
    In early February Premier Giorgia Meloni said during a meeting with agricultural associations that her government would take action to make sure farmers' get fair prices for their produce, amid ongoing tractor protests in many parts of the country.
    She also said that a tax-relief measure regarding income-tax Irpef for farmers would be changed, rather than scrapped completely, to ensure it is better targeted to those most in need.
    The protests have since waned, also as a result of an apparent split in the movement and insistence by some of the need to keep the focus on Brussels. (ANSA).