Some 3,000 farmers have been protesting in Bucharest on Tuesday against governmental policies in the agriculture sector. They’re calling for bigger subsidies for diesel and agricultural products.

The protesters tried to reach the Agriculture Ministry but the police prevented them from doing so as the Ministry was not included in the march route approved by the local authorities. That prompted the demonstrators to block the Universitate Square downtown Bucharest and threaten they would not leave the place unless their claims were solved.

They’re calling for subsidies for all crops and the introduction of a single custom tax of 20% for all pork imports for the rest of 2006.

They’re also concerned about the meat Romania imports from the United States and Brazil which they say are obtained through the use of genetically modified products, while the Romanian legislation bans GMO crops.