Serious shortages in basic goods such as vegetables, fruits and chicken have been recorded in the supermarkets of the island of Lesvos as livestock farmers continue to block the port for sixth consecutive day.
The protesters prevent trucks arriving on ferries and commercial cargo vessels from disembarking at the two ports of Mytilene. The trucks carry mainly food and other perishable goods.
Television channels showed over the weekend, empty supermarket shelves.
The ongoing disruption of supplies to the island has reportedly fully destabilized the local market with sector sources to report serious shortages of basic goods including in flour for bread production as well as in fruits and vegetables as local production is not sufficient to meet the demand. Significant damage has also been recorded in perishable goods with limited shelf-life that were stranded inside vessels during the blockade.
Early evening on Sunday, protesters will hold a general assembly meeting together with cooperatives and agricultural associations to decide on the future of the protests.
The protests started in the week before Easter due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and government measures that have brought the livestock farmers in dire economic situation. (KTG reported HERE)
A meeting of a delegation with the new Rural Development & Food Minister, Margaritis Schoinas, in Athens on Friday ended in a fiasco as the protesters described the outcome.
They insist that the government vaccinates their animals instead of culling them.
Significant damage has also been recorded in perishable goods with limited shelf life that were stranded inside vessels during the blockade.
