Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou has invited a three-member farmers’ delegation to the ministry for consultations, as tensions at the Rizoelia roundabout showed signs of easing on Thursday afternoon.
Farmers announced they will reopen one lane as a gesture of goodwill, but said they will not leave the area until negotiations are concluded. If their demands are not met, they warned, they will escalate their action.
The development follows a tense confrontation earlier on Thursday in which Justice Minister Costas Fytiris travelled to the scene and asked farmers to reopen the lane they had closed on safety grounds.
Farmers responded by shutting the roundabout entirely and blocking Larnaca port. One farmer handed his child to the minister, telling him to come and feed the child himself.
Dozens of livestock farmers gathered at the Rizoelia roundabout on Thursday morning in protest against the mass culling of animals due to foot-and-mouth disease. Farmers’ representative Stella Petrou had set a 2:00pm deadline, warning that if President Christodoulides did not confirm the cullings would stop, farmers would escalate their action every two hours.
Farmers also warned they would march on the EU leaders’ working dinner in Ayia Napa tonight.
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