Pig protest lost in roar of big trucks

13 April 1999

Pig protest lost in roar of big trucks

THE presence of pig farmers at yesterdays protest by lorry drivers in London has been largely overlooked by most of todays newspapers.

The truck drivers received widespread media coverage for their action, which snarled traffic in cities including Edinburgh, Newcastle and Exeter.

But the pig farmers presence at the demonstration was mentioned only in passing by a few of the national newspapers.

Both groups of protesters claim they are seriously disadvantaged by government policies, which give overseas competitors the edge over their British counterparts.

But neither the lorry drivers nor the pig producers appear to have won much public sympathy among the broadsheet newspapers.

One letter-writer to The Guardian described the protesters as “feather-bedded, whingeing farmers joining the polluting, strike-breaking truck owners.”

• Farmers help jam London streets, FWi, yesterday, 12 April, 1999
• Rising fuel costs might threaten farmers pockets, FWi, 09 April, 1999
  

• The Times 13/04/02/99 page 1, page 2, page 19 (Editorial)
  
• The Independent 13/04/02/99 page 8
  
• The Guardian 13/04/99 page 7
  
• The Daily Telegraph 13/04/99 page 4