Vans leaving Granadilla, during the slow march through Badajoz. /
Some 250 vehicles including trucks, tractors, vans and taxis traveled the main avenues yesterday to show their discomfort
Some 250 vehicles including tractors, trucks, taxis and vans have traveled the main avenues of Badajoz this Sunday in a slow march, with which the self-employed have protested the prices of fuel and electricity.
Convened by the Badajoz self-employed association, the Radio Taxi Badajoz association, the carriers’ platform, the group of street vendors in Extremadura, the hospitality platform, the Old Town merchants’ association or the new employers’ Confederation of Entrepreneurs and Self-Employed of the region, the self-employed made themselves known during their tour by honking their horns and causing punctual retentions, which did not collapse traffic as it was Sunday.
“The objective of this mobilization is to show the discomfort that exists due to the inaction of the Government and the lack of response to the excessive rise in the price of fuel and electricity,” said Eduardo Bernardo Muriel, president of ABA and CEADE in the province of Badajoz.
“There have been many years – he continues – squeezing us with high taxes, excessive working hours, threatening to raise even more the RETA (special regime for self-employed workers) and tax persecution, so it is time to say enough is enough”.
His protest comes after fifteen days of the strike in the transport of goods. With those who are behind the wheel of the trucks and with professional drivers such as taxi drivers, market vendors, ambulances or tow trucks, the organizers of the Badajoz march have also wanted to show their solidarity. “This act also wants to serve as a sign of active solidarity with them due to a situation of extreme difficulty due to the lack of corrective measures.”
Protest also in Los Santos
Some forty trucks, twenty cars and six tractors have also staged a slow march through Los Santos de Maimona as a sign of protest, reports Lucio Poves.
The procession crossed one of the arteries of the population and went to the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Estrella. Their presence in the streets was noted because truck drivers insistently honked their horns and at this sound the residents of these streets leaned out of their houses or onto the terraces of bars.
March of carriers yesterday in Los Santos de Maimona. /
Among the cars that accompanied, from start to finish, was one occupied by the mayor of Los Santos, Manuel Lavado, and some members of the PP government team. The socialist spokesman argued the absence of him in the agreements already taken by the government, although he said he felt close to the sector.
The demonstration concluded in the Plaza del Pilarito, where a manifesto was read, with the well-known demands that were applauded by the participants and the neighbors. After that, the trucks returned to their destinations in different towns in the region.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.