Politicians blame radical peasant leaders for threatening more front door protests

Tractor of protest in The Hague.Photo: Molly Quell

Ministers and lawmakers blamed comments by radical peasant leader Mark van den Oever. I’m scared.

The government acknowledges that some farms must be closed in areas that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of nitrogen-based pollution. This greatly affects the wrath of the radical peasants known as the Peasant Defense Force.

Earlier this month, a group of angry peasants who appeared at the minister’s house refused to leave until she told them that the children were “shaking” inside. Farm Minister Genk Staghower was also forced to cancel his visit to the Renswoude farm near Utrecht after the threat to his host farmer.

Vanden Oever, the leader of FDF, a pig farmer who was hospitalized during a front door protest, said in an interview in Volkskrant Saturday that he did not believe the farmers had gone too far. “Van der Waals had a farmer out for 30 minutes, but that’s nothing compared to what she’s doing to the farmer,” he said.

He was also justified by comparing the persecution of Jews during World War II with the peasant’s position, threatening the blockade of roads and food supplies.

Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgöz described Van den Oever’s comment as “a threat to public politicians” and said it was unacceptable.

“The safety of others should never be compromised just because you disagree with something.” She said on twitter..

Tractor

Jan Pieter Bos, the leader of the D66 parliamentary party, said he would like to know if demonstrations at politicians’ homes could be banned. “Our country operates according to the rule of law, not the rules of the tractor,” he said at a party convention in Den Bosch.

And MP Caroline van der Plas, who founded the professional farming party Boer Burger Beweging, said she did not support people’s actions at home or refused to eat.

Meanwhile, a major agricultural lobby group, LTO, called on farmers to “properly” protest and said the use of tractors was justified, but not in politicians’ homes.

Farmers are planning a major protest on June 22 near Barneveld in the heart of the poultry farm. Approximately 20,000 to 30,000 farmers are expected to gather in the area, many of them by tractors. If the expected numbers match reality, it will be the biggest peasant protest ever seen in the Netherlands.