Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
German farmers’ protest against government brings country to a halt
German farmers made international headlines after bringing the country to a standstill. Their protest, which is being organised by the German Farmers’ Association, is largely due to government’s plan to scrap the diesel tax break, which will affect the agricultural industry.
According to media reports, farmers blocked all major roads around the country with their tractors and other equipment.
Euronews in Germany reported that hundreds of tractors had blocked off all slip roads in MecklenburgWestern Pomerania. In the district of Cloppenburg in north-west Lower Saxony, the main road was blocked by 40 vehicles. In Saxony, some off-ramps and on-ramps in the Dresden area were unusable. The media also reported that farmers blocked off all major highways as well bringing a large part of Germany’s workforce to a standstill.
The farming association said in a statement the government announced that scrapping the diesel tax break would be staggered over three years and not implemented immediately, so that the sector would not be hard hit. However, the association continued protesting as they wanted the decision to be completely removed.
The association said they were not linked to the group that caused a blockade and stormed a ferry coming from northern Germany.
It also said in a statement it did not want to lose the support it had received from a large part of the population, but that farmers would not accept the planned tax hike for the agriculture sector.
According to German police, the blockade included members of a far-right party who were tagging on to the farmers’ protests with their own agenda. The police reported that so far, most of the protests by farmers had been peaceful.