Dairy farmers spill milk in a cry against low prices

Started by NewsCaster, Nov 27, 2012, 04:30 AM

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Nov 27, 2012, 04:30 AM
Geert Vanden Wijngaert / APPolice officers are sprayed with milk by European milk farmers during a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Nov. 26.John Thys / AFP - Getty ImagesA dairy farmers holds a hose spraying milk at a protest against EU agricultural policies at the Place du Luxembourg, near the European Parliament, in Brussels, on Nov. 26.Yves Herman / ReutersA riot police is seen covered in milk as farmers dump milk on the European Parliament during a demonstration in Brussels on Nov. 26.Reuters -- Dairy farmers sprayed thousands of gallons of fresh milk at the European  Parliament in Brussels on Monday in protest at what they say are excessive milk  quotas and prices below the cost of production.

Hundreds of farmers and tractors from  across Europe took up position in a park near the European Commission and a  square in front of the parliament in the early afternoon, after blocking traffic  along several of Brussels' busiest streets.

They then turned their hoses on parliament,  a collection of vast marble, glass and steel buildings on a Brussels square, and  unleashed torrents of milk, some of it raining down on police and  passers-by.

Afterwards they set alight barrels of hay  and a pile of tires, sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. They  plan to stay put outside parliament until Tuesday afternoon.

The European Milk Board, which coordinated  the two-day protest, said prices with current quotas were putting small farmers  out of business. In Belgium, for example, the board said the  wholesale price for a quarter gallon of milk was around 34 cents, but the cost of producing it  is more than 50 cents. Continue reading.Julien Warnand / EPAFarmers spray milk at riot police during a demonstration on the 'Place du Luxembourg' near the European parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 26.Yves Herman / ReutersEuropean milk producers demonstrate outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Nov. 26.Yves Herman / ReutersFarmers stand among hundreds of tractors during a demonstration in central Brussels on Nov. 26.

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