According to the police, some of the protesters tried to drive over police officers and company cars on the spot, writes NLTimes. Yesterday’s riots came after farmers blocked roads and shops for several days in protest of new emission rules. On Wednesday, the entrance to an airport was blocked by tractors. The background is that the Dutch authorities have presented a plan in which nitrogen emissions will be halved by 2030. To achieve this goal, Dutch agriculture must manage with fewer cows and pigs. The government believes that there must be 30 percent fewer animals on the farms. Many farmers now fear that their livelihoods will be lost. Farmers in the Netherlands have used several tools to express their dissatisfaction recently. Violent protests For two weeks, there have been daily protests around the Netherlands. Angry farmers took action last week because of police roadblocks, which were set up in front of the house of the country’s agriculture minister. Eight people were arrested. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte criticizes the peasants for their violent protests. Photo: BART MAAT / AFP Prime Minister Mark Rutte has given a clear message that the farmers have gone far beyond the line. – A police car has been hit by a tractor, hay bales and car tires have been set on fire outside a town hall, there are threats against public officials, manure has been spread on highways that can lead to dangerous situations. This is something we do not accept in our country, Rutte said in a speech last week. He believes the measures proposed by the government are difficult for many farmers, but absolutely necessary. – The fact is that the soil is acidified, which ultimately also has long-term consequences for the agricultural sector. Farmers blocked the entrance to Groningen airport in the Dutch city of Eelde on Wednesday. Photo: KEES VAN DE VEEN / AFP Nitrogenversting The Netherlands is one of the world’s largest exporters of agricultural products, writes Reuters. The country exports a lot of dairy products, but intensive agriculture has become a problem. Ammonia in manure and animal waste leads to nitrogen pollution. It produces smog and algae blooms, among other things. The Netherlands is currently the worst country in Europe in terms of nitrogen emissions. In the government’s plan, farmers must reduce their emissions by 40 percent. They think this is too much of a burden to take. Dairy farmer Marijn van Heun is one of those protesting. He believes the government’s plan deprives young farmers of the opportunity to survive. – We can not invest. Our fathers, our uncles, cannot invest for the future either. Young farmers also do not want any opportunity to take over a farm, he says to the news agency AP. In the last two weeks, Dutch farmers have blocked several roads to show their opposition to new emission rules. Photo: VINCENT JANNINK / AFP Sentenced to reduce emissions The Government’s new measures come as a result of the country being ordered to reduce emissions of nitrogen. It started in 2017 when a small Dutch environmental organization went to the EU’s own court. They believed that the country did not follow the EU’s directive to limit nitrogen emissions. In 2018, the court upheld the environmentalists. This is not the first time the Dutch authorities have been sentenced to tighten environmental protection policy. In 2018, the government was ordered by a Dutch appeals court to implement larger CO₂ cuts than planned. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled in 2019 that the government had to implement urgent measures against climate change to protect fundamental human rights. For two weeks, farmers in the Netherlands have been protesting against the government’s proposal to cut nitrogen emissions. Photo: SEM VAN DER WAL / AFP
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Farmers in the Netherlands protest against nitrogen emissions cut – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
