For the third time in six months, thousands of farmers and tractors went to The Hague on Wednesday for a major farmers' protest against the government's nitrogen policy. Boerenbusiness kept an eye on developments via this live blog. The atmosphere of the protest this time was fierce, but certainly not grim.
Thomas Doornbos, our intern at the editorial of Boerenbusiness, had traveled by tractor from Groningen to The Hague. Doornbos was the driver of 1 of the 30 tractors that were already taken off the road last night on the N33 motorway near Rolde.
They were all fined €340 for driving on the motorway. To the anger of the farmers themselves, who indicated that alternative routes through villages are much more dangerous with the large equipment. Farmers in The Hague were also given a fine because they drove their tractors on the highway.
In Gelderland, near Apeldoorn, a driver of a tractor was arrested that was driving on the highway. The police drove him to death this morning, smashed windows and used pepper spray. The farmer was accused of dangerous driving. He is free again, but has lost his driver's license.
The demonstration at the Koekamp started just before half past one. Speakers on stage included FDF leader Mark van den Oever, POV leader Linda Jansen and various other representatives and advocates. Maurits von Martels and Jaco Geurts, MPs of the CDA, are also present. You can see a video impression of this manifestation here.
Van den Oever finally closed the manifestation with a request to the farmers to wait another 3 minutes, until perhaps Prime Minister Mark Rutte or Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten still appear. Many farmers did not want to wait for that and they withdrew. An idea to put FDF stickers at the Ministry of Agriculture was foiled by the police. It stopped the demonstrators who were on their way to the Bezuidenhoutseweg. 4 arrests were made.
Boerenbusiness.nl kept a live blog via our special twitter channel @boerenactie.
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