Anti-Import "Gang"
Ambushes Hog Truck

(Editor's note: Recent protests along the U.S.-Canadian border have elevated the profile of long-simmering ag import issues, but producers on the North American continent are amateurs when it comes to raising a ruckus over trade. Europeans, on the other hand, take that stuff seriously…)

LISBON, Portugal —(AP)— A roadside gang ambushed two Spanish trucks carrying 505 imported pigs, driving the vehicles into a shallow ravine where they tipped over, killing and injuring many of the animals.

Police said they had no information about who was behind the attack Tuesday night, but suspicion fell on Portuguese pig farmers who in recent weeks have stepped up their protests against falling pork prices.

The trucks were traveling on a narrow country road just after midnight near Palmela, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Lisbon, when they were stopped by a group of about 15 men, police spokesman Paulo Soares said.

Some wore hoods and one had a pistol, he said.

Two of the men boarded the trucks and drove them into the ravine. The trucks fell onto their sides, crushing some pigs to death and injuring others, Soares said.

Some pigs escaped and fled into the countryside, Soares said.

The trucks were on their way to Palmela from Navarra in northern Spain.

Last week, riot police used water cannon, horses and dogs to break up a demonstration of protesting pig farmers who had blockaded a road in a rural town.

The farmers have also released piglets in the center of major cities. They want the government to give them more financial aid and place restrictions on pork imports.