The protesters placed posters on their equipment, which said, "Bureaucracy is killing us" and "Today here, tomorrow in Turin, the day after tomorrow in Brussels," La Stampa newspaper said.
The farmers reportedly drove through the streets around the city center, reaching the permanent demonstration site organized on one of Alessandria's boulevards. They intend to stay there until Saturday, waiting for the arrival of the region's president, Alberto Cirio, reported La Stampa.
In addition, 300 demonstrators on several dozen tractors continue to protest near the Port of Cagliari on Italy's southwestern island of Sardinia, the Agi news agency said. Similar rallies are reportedly taking place in the city of Novara, where over 200 farmers took to the streets, as well as across the central Italian region of Tuscany and in the southern city of Crotone.
Farmers' protests have already caused disruptions in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands. On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to stop the current round of trade deal negotiations with South American bloc Mercosur amid the protests, media reported.
However, on Tuesday, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said the commission had not suspended the negotiations with Mercosur and would continue to work for an agreement that would comply with the EU sustainability goals and take into account the bloc's concerns in agriculture.
The EU and Mercosur launched negotiations on a trade agreement back in 2000, but the talks soon stalled due to a number of factors, including demands by Latin American nations that EU countries pay compensation for years of colonial rule, as well as opposition from European agricultural producers, who are concerned about the possibility of price reductions if Brazilian beef enters the market. However, the two blocs still managed to reach a political agreement for a comprehensive trade agreement in principle in June 2019.