Angry German farmers shut down Berlin
Thousands of farmers from all parts of Germany staged a protest in Berlin on Tuesday, pretty much shuttering the capital city with some 5000 tractors.
When the farmers from all over the country took part in their main rally at Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday, they had already blocked traffic on several main arteries in Berlin. With their tractors, they went right into the German capital’s city center. Some agriculturalists had left their farms on Sunday to be in Berlin on time, berlinspectator. com reported.
Farmers said that the government’s stricter environmental protection laws, animalwelfare rules, and fertilizer regulations are threatening their livelihoods. The culture of “farmer bashing” has made their lives miserable, they said, according to Reuters.
Some 5,000 tractors brought the city center to a standstill. They have been chugging in slow processions from all across the country, heading towards the capital during the past few days, with miles-long convoys inching along motorways over the weekend.
Under the banner “The countryside creates connection,” farmers and green industry players have formed an independent initiative to protest against new policies they believe are “endangering the economic power and social peace in rural areas in Germany.” The German Farmers Association is backing the protests.
In September, the German government passed a package of environment- and animal-protection measures that the farmers say will endanger their livelihoods, including one that makes financial support dependent on their adherence to environmental protection laws. The government’s tighter regulations for fertilizers, especially the plans to phase out glyphosate pesticides, are doing more harm than good, farmers say, and leading to swathes of land being damaged by under-fertilization.
Farmers say they have been made into “bogeymen”, especially by environmentalists, noting that “farmer-bashing is leading to anger and frustration in the profession.” They say that discrimination and bullying against those connected to the farming community “is a daily occurrence” making farming as a profession less attractive. More respect demanded A protester from Swabia said it was a scandal that politicians decided how farmers had to cultivate their fields or take care of their animals. Far more respect was necessary, she said at Brandenburg Gate. A colleague of hers blasted the ban on glyphosate which Berlin had decided on without providing an alternative. By 2024, nobody is supposed to use it anymore.
Another aspect they reject is the insects protection program Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner came up with.
Many farmers feel they are being made responsible for issues such as the decline in insects, even though they had nothing to do with them. “Aviation and mobile connections ill the insects”, a big sign on a huge tractor read. The latest fertilizer regulations are yet another aspect many farmers are unhappy about. “Everybody talks about us, but nobody talks to us.” This is what many farmers say.
There are about 300,000 farms in Germany. Some 90 percent of all farmers are officially being represented by the German Farmers’association. But since many do not feel their interests are really being discussed in Berlin, around 100,000 farmers became part of a giant Facebook group via which they organize their protests. Eleven days ago, they were in Hamburg. Tuesday it was Berlin.