EU farmers' protest turns violent in Luxembourg

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2009

LUXEMBOURG (AFP) — European farmers protesting the fall of milk prices clashed with police outside the venue of an EU farm ministers meeting in Luxembourg Monday.

Protesters hurled eggs, cans and bottles at police and security guards and blocked the route to the meeting with some of the 300 tractors they had brought to the demonstration.

Some set rubbish bins and tyres ablaze during the demonstration.

Others rushed into a nearby supermarket and emerged with pallets of milk bottles, which they handed out to passers-by or used as missiles against the police.

The protest organisers, from the Copa-Cogeca European farming federation and the European Milk Board, put the turnout at 5,000 and said participants had travelled from Belgium, France and Germany to join...