While the Chiflik owners held a semi-feudal status and received part of the agricultural output, they were obliged to provide housing for their farmers and were not allowed to apply forced labor.
[2] As the living and working conditions of the farmers worsened, protests became more frequent, especially after the assassination of figures like the activist Marinos Antypas.
In March 1910, the farmers organized a mass protest in Larissa and villagers from many areas of the prefecture traveled to the city.
The Kileler incident began when several hundred farmers tried to travel by train to Larissa without buying tickets.
Eventually the need of the central government to use farmers as recruits and, after 1922, the settlement of refugees from Asia Minor in Greece, led to the implementation of a 1917 law regarding land redistribution.