Vilnius City said on Monday traffic restriction will be in place in certain areas of Gedimino Avenue, streets of Šventaragio, Jogailos, Jakšto, Vasario 16-osios, Tumo-Vaižganto, Gynėjų, Goštauto streets from Tuesday to Friday.
Ignas Hofmanas, chair of the council, said the farmers left for Vilnius on Monday. The city council issued a permit for a convention of up to 850 tractors and other agricultural machinery.
“The machinery will be on the road from around 11 a.m., and the event itself will start on 24 January,” he told ELTA, adding that the campaign is formally expected to end on 26 January.
“But we keep the right to return,” Hofmanas said.
Environment Minister Simonas Gentvilas is expected to show up on the scene, according to Hofmanas. Minister of Agriculture Kęstutis Navickas, who is at International Green Week in Brussels, should meet the protesters on Thursday.
The Association of Private Forest Owners said it will be joining the farmers after organising a rally of forest trucks in Kaunas County earlier this month.
The Lithuanian Agriculture Council is criticising the Government for regulations on restoring permanent grassland, hikes in the excise duties on fuels, development of protected areas in a way unfavourable to farmers and the continuous milk crisis. It also claims that Russian grain is being transported through Lithuania.
Farmers staged their first protest on 8 January by lighting bonfires across the country. On that day, a delegation of the council met with the prime minister, Navickas and deputies of the environment minister.
Hofmanas then welcomed a constructive meeting with Ingrida Šimonytė, who had agreed to work together to address the farmers’ concerns and to meet again in March. However, a few days later, the Agriculture Council announced it would continue the protest campaign and would go to Vilnius at the end of January.
In a letter to the Agriculture Council circulated to the media on Friday, the prime minister said she regretted the sudden change in the institution's position, but assured it that a consensus had been reached on the demands key to the farmers.