Thousands join rally in Athens as farmers step up protest

Thousands of farmers from across Greece descended on Athens' Syntagma Squar central square on Tuesday, parking their tractors before parliament in their biggest protest yet over rising costs and livelihoods destroyed by extreme weather.

Police estimate at least 8,000 farmers with 130 tractors joined the protest, which echoes grievances in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy, where farmers have staged similar demonstrations.

In addition to dealing with high energy and production costs, Greek farmers say they have been hurt by climate change-driven weather, where unpredictable flooding, as well as extreme heat and wildfires are making crop growing ever more hazardous.

Leading members of main opposition SYRIZA, including its leader Stefanos Kasselakis and MPs Sokratis Famellos and Pavlos Polakis, attended the protest. A group of 15 socialist PASOK...