More than a dozen tractors rolled through Athens on Friday, honking horns and flashing lights outside parliament as thousands of Greek farmers thronged the capital's main Syntagma Square to protest tax hikes and pension reforms.
The two-day protest kicked off Friday morning with clashes between riot police and Cretan farmers wielding shepherds' staffs that left 10 policemen slightly injured and smashed windows at the agriculture ministry.
Music blared from loudspeakers and protesters braving rain lit a bonfire near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the foot of parliament, while about 20 tractors parked nearby. Tents were set up in the adjacent central Syntagma Square in preparation for an all-night sit-in.
Farming associations have been blockading highways across the country with tractors for more than two weeks, forcing traffic into lengthy diversions to protest a planned overhaul of the country's troubled pension system. So far, they have refused talks with the government, insisting the pension reform plan must be repealed.
Bailout lenders are demanding that Greece scrap tax breaks for farmers and impose pension reforms that will lead to higher monthly contributions from the self-employed and salaried employees.
"They fooled us," Manolis Paterakis, head of one of Crete's farmer blockades, said of the left-led government. "They were telling us that they support us, that they are fighting for the survival of the farmers, ... that young people need to return to their villages and work their land.