Around 50 demonstrators used tractors and other vehicles to block access to the Agriculture Ministry in downtown Riga on Tuesday, lighting fires in front of the building. Another several hundred tractors blocked the city's orbital road.
The farmers oppose the government's move to raise income tax from 18% to 21% and demand financial aid worth some $48 million. Farmers' organizations demanded on Monday that Roze step down.
The Union of Greens and Farmers announced last week it would quit the ruling coalition unless the government help farmers endure the economic crisis. Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis invited opposition parties to join the coalition, but they refused.
Parliament will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday for a no-confidence vote in the government.
Latvia had the worst-performing economy in the European Union last year. By the end of the third quarter of 2008, the country's GDP had fallen 4.6% in 12 months. Opinion polls show more than 70% of Latvians do not trust the government.
The economic situation in the country led to protests outside parliament in mid-January, which turned violent with stones and bottles thrown at the building.
