Czech farmers protest with around 500 tractors and lorries in Prague

Farmers driving around 500 tractors, lorries and other large agricultural machinery descended on the Czech Agriculture Ministry in Prague on Monday to protest rising costs and EU environmental regulations.

While many streets were blocked in the city centre, major traffic chaos was averted as authorities had warned commuters in advance to travel to work by public transportation rather than their own vehicles.

The protest action is directed against the EU's flagship Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality in the bloc by 2050. Farmers denounce the rules associated with the initiative as overly burdensome and say they are being asked to do too much.

The farmers are also venting their anger at the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, saying they need more subsidies and less bureaucracy from his liberal-conservative government.

They held up banners at their Monday protest reading "Rescue dying agriculture" and "Stop the bureaucratic terror."

Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný told the CTK news agency that he wanted to see round-table negotiations take place rather than protests that paralyse Prague. He also accused the farmers of having political agenda.

The Czech government, which is made up of five parties, has seen its popularity plunge lately.

According to a recent poll by opinion research group STEM, former populist prime minister Andrej Babiš' largest opposition party ANO would receive 33.4% of the vote if parliamentary elections were held today.

Fiala's ODS would receive 13.2% and the co-governing Pirate Party 11.3%.

The Christian Democratic party of Agriculture Minister Výborný would fail to even reach the 5% hurdle to enter parliament.

The survey of 1,092 people took place from January 18 to 27.