Convoys of tractors held up traffic in Berlin (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ) |
Berlin (AFP) - Thousands of farmers drove their tractors into German cities on Tuesday, in protest at the government's new agricultural policies which they say will hurt their livelihoods and make them scapegoats for climate change.
Long
convoys of tractors held up traffic at the main protest sites in Berlin and
Bonn, both home to federal government offices, while thousands more honked
their horns and blocked roads in cities including Munich, Hanover and
Stuttgart.
"Agricultural
regulations are becoming ever more strict... and threatening our
existence," said 19-year-old Tom Hollstein, who hung a doll dressed as a
farmer from a makeshift gallows on the back of his vehicle.
The
protesters are furious at a new package of regulations introduced by Chancellor
Angela Merkel's government last month, which includes plans to ban the
controversial weedkiller glyphosate by 2023 and limits the use of fertiliser to
reduce nitrate levels in groundwater.
Glyphosate,
sold under the trade name Roundup, has been blamed for plummeting insect
populations and according to some studies causes cancer in humans, but
supporters of the widely used product insist it is a safe and effective tool to
ensure agricultural productivity.
The new
restrictions "mean we would have to start working as an organic company,
which is very difficult in our region," said Bernard Kalies, a fruit and
vegetable farmer near the border with Poland.
One of the
demonstrators in Bonn held up a sign that read "Tuesdays for
Farmers", DPA news agency reported, in a play on the "Fridays for
Future" strikes calling for action against climate change.
Many
farmers have said they are fed up with "farmer bashing" by
environmental activists, who they say have made agricultural businesses the
bogeyman in the climate debate.
German
Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner voiced support for the farmers.
"They
make the food we eat, they work hard, but they are seen by some as nothing more
than 'polluters' or 'animal abusers'. And that is neither right nor fair,"
she told the Bild daily.
Angry
farmers took to the streets in similar protests in France on Tuesday, while
Dutch farmers have staged two nationwide demonstrations in recent weeks.
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