The German government has launched several measures in its savings package for the 2024 budget, including controversial cuts in subsidies for the agricultural industry. The Council of Ministers today approved a bill that the coalition parties can now present in Parliament, as reported by Dpa.
THE reasons for the protest
The general strike that began today is against the planned reduction in diesel subsidies announced as part of federal budget readjustments. The government decided to make the cuts as part of a push to save around 60 billion euros in funds that had been repurposed from COVID-era loans, a move that Germany's Constitutional Court has ruled illegal. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the government intends to continue pushing towards a climate-neutral future, strengthening social cohesion and supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, but will now have to do so with “much less money”.
Berlin, hundreds of tractors under the Brandenburg Gate: farmers protest against the cut in subsidies
The ongoing demonstrations
Protests are in full swing across Germany, with farmers' vehicles blocking access to motorways and city centres. In Munich alone, the police said they had accompanied around 5,500 tractors from the surrounding region to the city. A demonstration was planned for later in the center of the Bavarian capital. The Berlin police have provided the first indications of the size of the farmers' demonstration along one of the city's main arteries. By 10am, police said they had counted 566 tractors, trucks, cars, vans and trailers, with another 550 people on foot between the Brandenburg Gate and the famous Victory Column. Entire towns were blockaded by peasants including Brandenburg an der Havel and Cottbus. Rhineland-Palatinate police reported an 18- to 20-kilometer-long convoy of more than 1,000 tractors and trucks moving along the highway toward the state capital, Mainz.
Fear of infiltration by extremists
After an angry crowd in Schleswig-Holstein prevented German Economy Minister Robert Habeck from leaving a ferry last Thursday, fears are growing that protests by German farmers could intensify and spark violent episodes again. The German trade association, which is leading the protest actions, explicitly called for peaceful protests. «We made a clear statement on the matter and distanced ourselves from it with the utmost firmness. Personal attacks, threats, etc., all this is prohibited,” said the president of the association, Joachim Rukwied, as reported by Tagesschau. But politicians from several parties fear that the farmers' actions could be exploited by extremist groups. «We can already see that attempts are being made to exploit the protests, especially in right-wing circles and especially in the AfD environment. We are seeing it right now in Thuringia, we see it in Saxony, we see it in other places too”, declared Dirk Wiese, vice-president of the SPD parliamentary group, convinced, at the same time, that the majority of farmers will demonstrate in an violent. “Peaceful protest for one's own interests is absolutely legitimate,” Wiese continued.
One injured in Lower Saxony
Police in the city of Offenburg, near the border with France and not far from Strasbourg, say one protest participant was seriously injured after being hit by a driver. It was unclear whether the protester was intentionally targeted, police said on Twitter.
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