What creative excuses are being devised to get out of the tractor demonstration ban? What role do supermarkets play in the farmers' protests and why?
Following the example of the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe, the province of Friesland announced today (Tuesday 7 July 2020) a ban on demonstrating with tractors. Farmers Defense Force is exploring legal options to challenge these bans, which must be issued by the regional competent authority.
Legal scholars question whether the right to demonstrate is being eroded by the trigger actions. The right to demonstrate applies as long as the government is the only one who can use violence as a means of power. Livestock farmers wonder on social media what will happen if roads are blocked under the guise of tractor failure with a large machine attached to the tow bar.
Leiden city center
Last night, an estimated 100 farmers reported animal abuse to the Leiden police station against agriculture minister Carola Schouten. Spokesperson Wilbert van der Post, the only remaining active dairy farmer in the municipality of Leiden, was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of so many colleagues. He discussed with the police how to steer the tractor caravan in the right direction, with which the hundred farmers drove to the historic city center. Also in Apeldoorn, a group of farmers filed a report with the police against the minister for animal cruelty.
Make consumers feel
On Monday afternoon, farmers blocked the Albert Heijn distribution center in Zwolle. This action made clear what the motives are for blocking distribution centers of supermarkets. In this way it must be made clear to the consumer who is responsible for the food that is for sale in the supermarket.
However, according to Laurens Sloot, professor of entrepreneurship in retail trade at the University of Groningen, supermarkets cannot be blamed. 'Supermarkets are framed as if they are making high profits off the farmers' backs, but that is not the case. The average return has been 2 to 3% for years. The variation is not great." According to Sloot, the consumer who refuses to spend more money on food is a bigger problem.
Rigid arrangement Schouten
In the AD, the professor mainly points the finger at Minister Schouten, who, according to him, is too rigid and has too little binding force. "It is not the supermarkets that are the main cause of this crisis, but the government. Of course there is a nitrogen problem, but the question is: how do you solve it? Not in this top-down way."
Sloot believes that there should be a level playing field in Europe in terms of production requirements. It is the responsibility of politicians to fail to do so.
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