The activists eventually managed to get into the auction room where they chained themselves to the furniture.

The NGO said the protest was meant to send the message that the government scheme to sell land is dishonest and it would not boost ecological farming. Greenpeace said that although local farmers have the right to attend the land auctions, they are hardly given a fair chance to buy land.

The Fejér County police department told MTI that it will comment on the matter at a later time. Disputes have been ongoing over the land leases in Kishantos since late 2013. In April 2014 the new leaseholders started to plough up the fields at the local farms.

The organic farmers of the German-backed Kishantos Rural Development Centre, however, said that the newcomers were not “legally in possession” of the area, as there were several legal disputes over rights to the land still under way.

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MTI photo: Máthé Zoltán