The protest of hauliers and farmers against the rise in fuel prices does not stop. Yesterday, Sunday 18 October, trucks and tractors continued to patrol the main road junctions of Calabria, Sicily and Puglia, while the average price of diesel approached the threshold of 2.3 euros per litre, according to the latest findings from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy. The mobilization in the southern regions is causing increasingly evident repercussions on the circulation and distribution of goods: some service stations have remained without fuel, while various products, especially fresh ones, are starting to run out in supermarkets.
The meeting with the government
The difficulties also concern agricultural companies and producers, forced to deal with blocked deliveries and the risk of losing part of the harvest or perishable goods. All while the government looks for a way out of the dispute. The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini has brought forward the discussion with the representatives of the hauliers to tomorrow, Tuesday 20 October, also convening the autonomous groups of Calabria, Sicily and Puglia. The meeting, scheduled for 3pm in Milan, is also expected to include the participation of deputy minister Edoardo Rixi. The opening of the table, however, did not convince the protesters to stop the mobilization early. The continuation of the protest will also depend on the outcome of the confrontation with the government.
Farmers are also protesting
Alongside the hauliers, the mobilization of farmers continues, denouncing increasingly heavy costs to be borne and asking for interventions to guarantee the survival of the companies. From the demonstration in the Bianchino district, in Castrovillari (Cosenza), the demonstrators reported growing participation, with the involvement of producers from Cassano, Castrovillari, Cerchiara and Firmo. According to the organizers, the protest is going beyond the boundaries of the single professional category, gathering support and solidarity from part of the local community.
Mayors and councilors from neighboring municipalities, some representatives of the regional council and minority councilors from the municipality of Castrovillari showed up at the demonstrations. The farmers also underlined the presence of students from the scientific high school, interpreting it as a sign of attention towards the economic and social prospects of the area.
Roadblocks in Puglia
For some days, hauliers and farmers have also been demonstrating in various cities in Puglia against the increase in the cost of fuel and the drop in the price of oil, with mobilizations and road blocks at motorway toll booths, on ring roads and along other main roads. In the Poggio Imperiale garrison (Foggia), near the A14 toll booth, it is the seventh day of protest. “We have no intention of giving up. Come and join us,” the organizers said.
Michele Cannarozzi, one of the protesters, is documenting the various phases of the mobilization with photos and videos. Images that tell of “the tiredness, the nights without sleep, the worries and dignity of a people who have decided to no longer remain silent. I speak on behalf of my land, of the Gargano, of our Puglia and of all of Southern Italy: we are dying of hunger. We are failing. And we can’t wait any longer”.
“We are starving”
“We won’t stop here, we will continue to demonstrate our ‘hunger’ peacefully – says Cannarozzi -. While last night all of Italy was at home with their families, we were still on this road, at the Poggio Imperiale garrison, together with our trucker brothers. Our wives and our children are at home, waiting for us. We are here, far from them, because we are also fighting for their future. There are people who haven’t taken a shower for days, who sleep few hours and who don’t they know what it means to rest. But do you know what these people smell like? Of dignity, of pride and of love for their land. Our olives are already falling to the ground, production costs are suffocating us and the price of olives doesn’t allow us to go forward.
The man extends the invitation to the demonstration, which could reach Rome: “We ask to be listened to, we ask to sit at the tables where our future is decided”, he explains. His appeal is therefore for everyone: “Farmers, citizens, young people, families and anyone who believes that work deserves respect. Don’t give up now. Come to the garrison and bring whoever can be there with you”.
Even in San Giovanni Rotondo the protest of olive growers and farmers, protesting from one point of the ring road to another, does not subside. The demonstrators specifically asked the shopkeepers to voluntarily and symbolically join the protest, opening two hours late, at 10am instead of 8am. The blockades at the Cerignola est motorway toll booth also remain.
The situation in Sicily
Today is a decisive day especially for Sicily, where the continuation of the blockade of heavy vehicles could compromise the regular functioning of various sectors. The first to suffer from the lack of supplies are public and private road transport, service stations and large-scale retail trade. If the situation does not resolve itself, in the following days the difficulties could extend to the processing industries, without the raw materials necessary for production, and to the agricultural sector, with vehicles at a standstill and crops difficult to market. Of particular concern are passenger transport companies, which depend on diesel supplies to guarantee daily connections.
Antonio Graffagnini, president of Anav Sicilia, the association representing traveler transport companies, reported that already on Friday some tankers had not made scheduled deliveries to the depots, bringing the available reserves close to the limit. In the absence of new supplies between today and tomorrow the service could undergo a drastic reduction in trips. The consequences would especially affect students and workers who use buses to reach schools and workplaces. In the event of a lack of supplies, companies will concentrate the remaining fuel on the essential routes in the time slots of greatest need, sacrificing the other connections.
Fill up the pumps in advance
Road patrols also continue, which could slow down public transport, lengthen travel times and prevent compliance with scheduled timetables, leading to possible suspensions of service. Motorists also fear being left without the possibility of refueling. After the last deliveries made on Thursday morning in various plants, many citizens decided to fill up early, without waiting for the start of the week. The rush to the pumps caused queues at the most convenient petrol stations, especially in Palermo. The managers, for their part, ensure that they can continue to sell fuel only until the stocks in the tanks are exhausted, waiting for an agreement to be reached.
Reduced stocks in supermarkets
However, as regards food distribution, the opening Sunday allowed many supermarkets to continue serving customers, but the availability in the warehouses could only last until today’s evening. In the absence of a solution to the dispute, the risk is that we will see new shortages on the shelves, with particular reference to the fruit, vegetable, milk and meat departments. The situation could quickly worsen if trucks do not resume regular circulation. Fresh products are in fact particularly exposed to interruptions in the logistics chain: in addition to problems for points of sale, goods that remain stationary in the production sites risk deteriorating before reaching consumers.
For now, there have been no widespread attacks on supermarkets, but there is growing concern among citizens about the availability of essential goods. Some also sought reassurance from pharmacies, fearing possible repercussions on medicine supplies. For this sector, however, the picture appears less critical, at least for the moment: according to the operators interviewed, medicines are among the goods excluded from the block and depots continue to make deliveries.
How’s it going in Calabria?
In Calabria the protest of the hauliers of Fedralog (regional federation of logistics and road haulage) reached its third day yesterday, while many farmers from the spontaneous movements have been mobilized for about ten days. Trucks and tractors are present in fifteen areas of the region, distributed along the main road links, without any complete traffic blockages occurring in the affected points on Sunday. Among the places where the mobilization continues are the state road 534, near the Firmo-Sibari motorway junction, and the state road 106, in the Sybaris Motel area, in the Cassano area. Other garrisons are active in the Pollino area, in the Sibaritide and in the upper Ionian area of Cosenza. Meanwhile, on Sunday afternoon, some hauliers and farmers who had been carrying out the patrol for days blocked the junction of the A2 motorway in Falerna, in the Lametino area (Catanzaro).
“Certain and concrete answers”
Calabrian hauliers have confirmed that their delegation will take part in the meeting called by Minister Salvini for Tuesday 20 October. The end of the detention is scheduled for midnight of the same day, but the outcome of the confrontation could affect subsequent initiatives. “If we do not have certain and concrete answers, we will move forward, we will intensify the mobilization and nothing is excluded”, declared one of the demonstrators present at the Calabrian demonstrations. Fedralog considers the convocation a significant step, without however considering it sufficient to resolve the reasons underlying the protest. The association reiterated that the confrontation with the government does not change, for the moment, the timing of the detention. And that the participants will continue to preside over the territory in a peaceful and orderly manner until the scheduled conclusion.