Despite concessions from the traffic lights
The Federal Republic is preparing for farmers’ protests
January 7, 2024, 1:45 p.m
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The planned cuts in subsidies in the wake of the budget crisis also affect farmers. However, they react unyieldingly, even after adjustments have been made. The new week begins with further massive protests, and the federal states are warning of significant traffic disruptions.
On Monday, the announced nationwide farmers’ protests could have a significant impact on public life in Germany. Although the federal government has largely reversed the planned cuts in the agricultural sector, farmers, together with the transport sector and some other industries, are preparing massive nationwide protests. Police and authorities expect severe traffic disruptions.
Police authorities nationwide expect road blockages and further actions with tractors and other agricultural equipment on Monday. The farmers’ association is planning a week of protests that will culminate with a demonstration in Berlin on January 15th. Numerous activities from Flensburg to Lake Constance have already been announced for Monday. Protest trips are planned in the greater Hamburg, Bremen, Potsdam, Magdeburg, Halle areas as well as in the Rhine-Main area and Saarland. Rallies are planned in Munich, Erfurt and Ravensburg in southern Baden-Württemberg, among others. In Berlin there will also be a demonstration with tractors at the Brandenburg Gate on Monday. In North Rhine-Westphalia, larger gatherings are planned in Cologne, Bonn, east of Dortmund and in Münster.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania expects problems “on most motorway entrances”. “To ensure supplies for the population,” the long-distance transport of goods was allowed on Sundays as an exception. Motorway entrances are also emerging as the focus of protests elsewhere.
The police union in Bavaria fears that the police will be overloaded and criticized the farmers. “Many actions not only go far beyond the legal point of view, they also pose a traffic hazard as well as a threat to public safety and order,” explained police union member Thorsten Grimm.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, the police warned that drivers would have to prepare for significant traffic restrictions from early in the morning. Tractor rally drives, blockades of motorway entrances and rallies are planned there. In Lower Saxony, the police in Bremen estimate that up to 2,000 vehicles will make their way to the Hanseatic city of Bremen, where a rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. Farmers in Cloppenburg, Diepholz, Cuxhaven and around Lüneburg, among others, have registered so-called secret trips. As a precautionary measure, several police departments reminded people that tractors are not allowed to drive on highways.
Bumpy start to school
Several federal states announced generous regulations if students should not come to school or come too late because of traffic blockages. The day will not be counted as a day off, it is said from Rhineland-Palatinate. The Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Education said: “The school management is aware of the special situation and is considerate of the students who arrive late for class,” said the Ministry of Education. In principle, parents who fear that their child will be particularly disabled or at risk on the way to school due to the demonstrations can keep their child at home or pick them up early and excuse their absence.
The German Farmers’ Association (DBV) has called for a week of nationwide protests against the federal government’s policies. Farmers’ anger was sparked by planned cuts in subsidies for the industry in the wake of the budget crisis. The federal government has now largely withdrawn the plans, but the DBV is still sticking to the protests.
The Association of German Dairy Farmers (BDM) justified this with deeper problems. “For many people it has long been about much more than agricultural diesel and a vehicle tax break,” explained BDM chairman Karsten Hansen. “It’s a protest against the famous straw that breaks the camel’s back.” Other sectors joined in, such as fishing associations and the Bavarian Hotel and Restaurant Association. “We stand in solidarity with the farmers and will also be at the rallies from Monday,” said the innkeepers.
Between legitimate and disproportionate
FDP leader Christian Lindner criticized the announced protests as “disproportionate”. Protest must always be “proportionate within the framework of our democratic order,” he said at his party’s Epiphany meeting in Stuttgart. These are not nationwide blockades. “You have lost your way, please turn back,” he appealed to farmers. In terms of content, the Federal Minister of Finance gave the farmers a clear rejection: The industry is benefiting from the reduced electricity tax and is demanding new funding for stable conversions. “If you want new subsidies, you also have to forego old ones.”
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt criticized the incident with Federal Minister Robert Habeck at the beginning of the regional group’s closed meeting in the Seeon monastery in Upper Bavaria. But he understands the farmers’ protests. Other Union politicians expressed their solidarity with the farmers – as long as the protests remained within the rule of law.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz called on farmers to remain peaceful in their protests and not to allow themselves to be exploited. Merz wrote in an email to his supporters that anyone who wanted to protest should do so with “a sense of proportion and, above all, without violence.” “Farmers, freight forwarders or whoever may not allow themselves to be exploited by people and groups who abuse legitimate protest to question our country’s entire system.”
Right-wing infiltration feared
After the blockade campaign against Habeck in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday, there are also fears of increasing radicalization among farmers and infiltration of the protests. Protesting farmers had blocked a ferry pier at the North Sea port of Schlüttsiel with their tractors and prevented the Green politician from leaving the ferry. The action caused widespread criticism in politics.
Representatives of farmers’ associations repeatedly distanced themselves from violence and extremist influence. DBV President Joachim Rukwied declared the participation of right-wing groups in the farmers’ protests as undesirable. “We don’t want right-wing and other radical groups with a desire for subversion at our demos,” he told “Bild am Sonntag”.
Security authorities have recently recorded various calls for mobilization and expressions of solidarity from right-wing extremists, New Right groups and the lateral thinker scene. According to a report in “Welt am Sonntag”, the Federal Criminal Police Office registered calls for a “general strike” and “subversive riots”. The right-wing extremist party Der III is involved. Away and the new right-wing initiative One Percent. At the same time, according to the report, the authority does not see any “risk-relevant findings” for the farmers’ protests and their organizers.