“I have official protection”
Habeck speaks out after the farmers’ riot
January 5, 2024, 11:20 a.m
Angry farmers want to storm his ferry in the evening, now Economics Minister Habeck speaks: “As a minister, I have the police protection by office. Many, many others have to fend off attacks on their own.” He thanks the police and crew and is concerned about the mood in the country.
After his ferry was blocked by farmers in Schleswig-Holstein, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck expressed concern about the mood in Germany. “I regret that no discussion situation could be established with the farmers. What worries me, even worries me, is that the mood in the country is heating up so much,” he writes in a statement.
As a minister, Habeck continued, he had police protection as part of his office. “Many, many others have to fend off attacks alone and cannot share their uncertainty. They are the heroes and heroines of democracy.” Protesting is a great good, said the Vice Chancellor. “Coercion and violence destroy this asset. We should counteract this with words and deeds.” At the same time, Habeck thanked fellow passengers who also suffered from the ferry being blocked, as well as the crew and the police.
In the meantime, the Flensburg police also announced new details about their operation. “Calls for a demonstration at the Schlüttsiel ferry pier, where Dr. Habeck was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, were spread on social media,” said the police in Flensburg. Around 80 agricultural vehicles made their way to the ferry pier on Thursday. Up to 300 people gathered there to demonstrate against the federal government’s austerity plans.
When the ferry reached Schlüttssiel around 5 p.m., the situation was tense and a dialogue between Habeck and the meeting leaders could not be made possible, the police reported. 25 to 30 people from the meeting tried to get on the ferry. Emergency services sometimes held them back using pepper spray. “After the ferry left, the situation calmed down and the meeting dispersed around 7 p.m.” On Friday night, emergency services finally ensured Habeck’s journey home to Flensburg without any further incidents.
“Every protest has limits”
The German Farmers’ Association distanced itself from the blockade campaign. “Personal attacks, insults, threats, coercion or violence are not acceptable. Despite any displeasure, we of course respect the privacy of politicians,” said the president of the farmers’ association, Joachim Rukwied.
A number of members of the federal government also expressed outrage at the action. Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther from the CDU said: “Every protest has limits.” The farmers’ association and its Schleswig-Holstein president Klaus-Peter Lucht have formulated these clearly: “No blockade actions and a clear distancing from extreme fringe groups, violations of the law or calls for this.”
Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir of the Green Party described the participants in the blockade as “fanatics” and “radicalinskis”. They have “wet dreams of overthrow, and that won’t happen. To put it very clearly: That is not acceptable.” Habeck helped ensure that the originally planned cuts in the agricultural sector were “corrected,” said Özdemir. “It’s all the more absurd that he of all people is now being attacked.”
Habeck can’t leave the ferry until much later
Angry farmers prevented Habeck from leaving the ferry when he wanted to return from his vacation on Hallig Hooge. The ferry initially set off again with the passengers. Habeck was later able to reach the mainland and, according to a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economics, is now in his home in Schleswig-Holstein.
The background to the protest is the dispute over the government’s plans to cut subsidies for agricultural diesel, which have only been partially modified. Farmers’ association president Rukwied announced protests for next week despite the corrections. “We demand the complete reversal of these tax increases without any ifs and buts. I expect that tens of thousands of tractors will come to our rallyes all over Germany,” he told the “Bild” newspaper. Rukwied announced that this would cause traffic disruptions.