Update
It’s just the beginning
Farmer protests lead to traffic jams and production stoppages at VW
January 8, 2024, 11:23 a.m
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All over Germany, farmers are occupying access roads to motorways or other roads with their tractors. Sometimes there are dangerous situations and drivers cannot make any progress. The VW plant in Emden is also suffering from the protests. In Brandenburg, entire cities are sealed off.
Farmers across the country are paralyzing traffic with blockades and slow-moving tractor convoys in protest against the government’s policies. In numerous federal states, motorway entrances and other critical points such as tunnels and bridges as well as federal road junctions were occupied. In addition, large numbers of farmers set off with their tractors to cities where protest demonstrations were planned.
In Lower Saxony Protesting farmers near Vechta blocked a highway with around 100 tractors. The police in Oldenburg said that all three lanes of the A1 in the direction of Hamburg were impassable. The blockade caused “dangerous traffic situations”. The police therefore initiated criminal proceedings against those involved. The police officially broke up the meeting. Securing the danger zone and diverting traffic could take place “with a time delay”. The highway is now open again.
As a result of the farmers’ protests, production at the Volkswagen plant in Emden in East Frisia came to a standstill. “Production is complete today,” said a VW spokeswoman. The routes to the plant were blocked by the farmers’ protests. It is therefore not possible for employees to come to work. The production of combustion engine models was affected. Production of the electric cars is scheduled to start again next week after the Christmas holidays. It was not known exactly how many employees were affected by the outage. Production is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.
According to the police, blockades by farmers also led to sometimes dangerous situations elsewhere. This is what happened on a federal highway near Zunsweier in Baden-Württemberg As a result of a backlog in slow traffic, an accident occurred in which a 58-year-old driver was slightly injured.
At the protest by farmers at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Hundreds of demonstrators took part in their vehicles. In the morning, the police counted 566 tractors, trucks, cars, vans and trailers as well as 550 people on the Street of June 17th between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. In addition to the farmers, many bus and truck drivers also took part in the protest, and many craftsmen were also among the demonstrators. The Straße des 17. Juni was closed on Sunday evening.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania The farmers officially ended their blockade campaign on the motorway entrances. The state farmers’ association announced this after the three-hour campaign that began at 6 a.m. There were no incidents. According to the association, a total of around 1,000 tractors and trucks took part in the actions. “A convoy of around 20 kilometers with around 1,000 vehicles moved through Stralsund,” as the police said.
Out of Brandenburg The officials reported that entire cities had been sealed off by protesting farmers. There is “currently no possibility” of entering the urban area of Brandenburg an der Havel, the police told X. Access to Cottbus will probably no longer be possible in the near future.
In Rhineland-Palatinate An 18 to 20 kilometer long convoy with more than 1,000 tractors and trucks moved along Autobahn 63 towards the state capital Mainz. The highway was completely closed. Also in the urban areas of Hamburg and Bremen There were numerous demonstrating farmers with heavy machinery.
In Bavaria The police reported traffic disruptions in many places, for example because roads were only accessible in one lane or motorway entrances were blocked. There will be a central rally in Munich this morning. There the police accompanied around 5,500 tractors from the surrounding region towards the city center. Also in North Rhine-Westphalia Farmers blocked all highway access roads. There were also many farmers in Düsseldorf.
The farmers’ association has announced that protests will continue at various locations throughout the week. This could have a significant impact on traffic in Germany, especially in the second half of the week, especially since the train drivers’ union GDL has announced a strike from Wednesday in the collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Bahn.