They live exclusively on water until they can meet Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
A group of farmers started a hunger strike on Monday at the headquarters of the Sejm in Warsaw, which had already been on a sit-in strike for four days, the Polish media reported, reporting on Monday's press conference in the Sejm, at which five members of the farming association Orka spoke.
Orka is one of the organizations that have been organizing protests including road blockades in Poland since the beginning of February against the European Union (EU) Green Agreement and the duty-free import of Ukrainian agricultural products.
Mariusz Borowiak, one of the company's members, said at the press conference: he and his colleagues will change the form of the sit-down strike that started on Thursday, they will also go on a hunger strike from Monday, and they will live exclusively on water until they can meet Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
They underlined: for them, the uncontrolled influx of goods from Ukraine and the points of the Green Agreement concerning agriculture are key.
The representatives of Orka previously rejected the offer to meet with Minister Czeslaw Siekierski at the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture. The farmers were afraid that they would not be allowed back into the sejm after the trial. The meeting would have taken place on Friday, when Poland's largest trade union, Solidarity, organized a mass demonstration against the EU's green deal in Warsaw.
During Friday's demonstration, the sit-in strikers were welcomed by Piotr Duda, the president of Solidarity. Solidarity launched a signature collection on Friday, based on which they would initiate a referendum on whether Poland should continue implementing the climate policy included in the Green Agreement.
MTI
Front page image: Illustration / A protester carries a banner depicting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a farmers' demonstration against the European Union's Green Agreement and the import of Ukrainian products into Europe in Warsaw on March 6, 2024.
Polish farmers have been protesting for several months against the EU regulations that exempted the import of Ukrainian agricultural products from duty-free and strict quality requirements prescribed in the Union, causing them a serious competitive disadvantage. To MTI/EPA-PAP/Pawel Super
