CAGLIARI – More than 400 lorry drivers were estimated to take part in demonstrations across Sardinia Monday against steep rises in fuel prices, said Ansa news agency. The hauliers stationed their vehicles in front of ports and industrial areas, including the airports of Cagliari, Olbia, Oristano and Porto Torres.    

 The first vehicles arrived in Cagliari at 6 a.m., with 60 lorries parking around and in front of the entrance to the city’s historic port, obstructing the delivery of goods. A similar demonstration took place in the Asi dock of Porto Torres from around 8 a.m.

 A moving protest was also underway, with a number of protesters driving at 30 km/h along the 131, the main road from Cagliari towards Muros. 

 Gabriele Frongia, a lorry-driver who assembled in Tramatza on Thursday and took part in organising demonstrations said in an interview with Ansa, “we all agree that we cannot work, in this way - with the price of diesel at these levels it is not possible to go on.”

 However, opponents pointed out that this abstention from work could have been avoided, as an urgent meeting on the subject hauliers had already been arranged with the Councillor for Transport of the Sardinia Region.

 “We are ready to paralyse the island to draw attention to an unsustainable situation” said protester Massimiliano Serra in a widely shared Whatsapp voice message Thursday. “The strike will be voluntary, but the message must reach everyone.”

 The message caused fear among Sardinians that there will be a lack of goods in shops. The drivers’ trade union said in a statement, “we agree that we must protest against the increases, but other ways must absolutely be found.”

Ak-ln