Greek Farmers Demand Aid

Thousands of Greek farmers protest in Athens to demand financial aid, escalating a four-week showdown with a government that says it has no more funds to help.

Honking horns and waving Greek flags on dozens of tractors driven to the capital from across the country, some 8,000 farmers took part in the protest, according to police.

About 130 tractors and dozens of pickup trucks and vans parked in front of parliament on Syntagma Square.

Hundreds more were expected during the day.

"Without agricultural production, there is no future in Greece," said one banner.

"We are here to express our solidarity with our colleagues in Europe," said Manolis Karkadatsos, head of a farm association on the island of Crete.

Farmers began protesting last month, joining a wider movement that has seen roads blocked in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, among other countries.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the demonstration would be useful to persuade the European Union to change its agriculture policies.

"This is leverage for me as well, when I go to Brussels to negotiate," he said.

Greek discontent is partly fuelled by anger at the slow pace of reconstruction after devastating floods in September in Thessaly, the center of Greece's agricultural production.

Farmers want import controls, lower fuel taxes, better prices for products and an easing of European Union environmental regulations.

The government has offered to lower energy bills for farmers over the next 10 years, as well as to cut tax on fertilizers and animal feed from 13 percent to six percent.

Mitsotakis last week also promised to deliver financial aid by the end of the month to those affected by natural disasters.

Having paid farmers between 2,000 euros and 4,000 euros last year, the government has promised more aid worth between 5,000 euros and 10,000 euros this year.

Farmers' unions say the aid is not enough.