Polish drivers have been demanding that

[EngLearner]

Polish truckers who have blockaded some border crossings with Ukraine since November have reached an agreement on "certain conditions" with the government and will suspend their protest on Wednesday at 11:00 GMT, an organiser said. Polish drivers had been demanding that the European Union reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.

I found the text on this website.

As I understand it, the reference point for the past perfect continuous is the moment the Polish truckers reached the agreement mentioned in the text. At that point, they suspended their demands. But since they have only recently stopped demanding what they were demanding, I wonder if the use of the present perfect continuous "have been demanding" would also be justified in this case.

 

[emsr2d2]

No. They were demanding those things before an agreement was reached and before agreeing to suspend their protest.

 

[EngLearner]

Polish truckers who have blockaded some border crossings with Ukraine since November have reached an agreement on "certain conditions" with the government and will suspend their protest on Wednesday at 11:00 GMT, an organiser said. Polish drivers had been demanding that the European Union reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.

Why is the definite article not used before "Polish drivers"? As far as I know, when referring to something mentioned earlier, we typically use the definite article in English. Would it be correct to say "The Polish drivers"?

 

[Skrej]

It's a general reference to a group.

 

[EngLearner]

Why is the indefinite article used before the word "system"? It's the system that was previously in place that they wanted to reinstate during the protest. Therefore, I would have said "the system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits...". Is the definite article correct in this example based on the reasoning I've described?

 

[Skrej]

It doesn't necessarily have to be the exact same system as before. It just needs to be a system which allows for the necessary permits.