Christmas holidaymakers returning to Greek capital Athens from the north have been facing kilometer-long queues along the Athens-Lamia national highway on Sunday, December 28, as farmers and livestock breeders continue their protests and road-blockades.
In some areas, traffic has being restricted and the blockades will continue also until Tuesday, December 30, as the second wave of holidaymakers is expected to leave Athens and other urban centers of New Year’s Eve.
The farmers had withdrawn their tractors since yesterday, Saturday, to provide another lane of traffic, which was activated at noon on Sunday to absorb the traffic of vehicles on the national network.
There are on and off closures of both traffic directions in border crossings of Evzoni, Promachonas and Exohi, even though sometimes for freight trucks and no problems for passenger vehicles.
Farmers of western Thessaly remain steadfast at the roadblocks, stressing that they will escalate their mobilizations in the coming period.
Through daily assemblies held at the blockade sites, they are kept informed about the course of the protests, emphasizing that they will continue their struggle, which they describe as a matter of survival. “ We will be the last to leave,” farmers at the E65 toll/Nikaia roadblock said, stressing that “ we will not move unless solutions are given to our problems.”
Video: Protesters’ Christmas decorated tent at the E65 roadblock by Karditsa. Celebrating Christmas with beef soup on the road. “We’re waiting form the government to stop all these tricks and methods it uses. We struggle continues,” says one farmer.
Στον αυτοκινητόδρομο Ε65, η εικόνα είναι σουρεαλιστική και στέλνει το δικό της μήνυμα: Χιλιάδες τρακτέρ παρατεταγμένα, στολισμένα με σημαίες, στέκουν σιωπηλοί φρουροί δίπλα σε μια μεγάλη, αυτοσχέδια τέντα που έχει μετατραπεί σε «στρατηγείο» και σαλόνι μαζί.
Μέσα στο κρύο του… pic.twitter.com/sPb4NETjnO
— ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ (@tovimagr) December 27, 2025
Meanwhile, 14 blocks and 4 farmers associations declared on Saturday that they are open to a dialogue with the government. The initiative drew criticism from other protesters, particularly in Thessaly, Greece’s main farming region. Farmers in Nikaia, a town south of Larissa, said the government had not provided substantive answers and warned they would harden their stance after New Year’s if no progress was made.
Greece’s government has again urged farmers to enter talks as the protests intensified nationwide.
On Sunday, protesters told TV channels that they will celebrate New Year’s Eve on the roads with their tractors.
thumbnail: farmers at the roadblock in Argolida, Peloponnese via ccn.greece.gr
