Chaos around The Hague as farmers strike and cause biggest traffic jam ever

Hundreds of tractors from all over the country are on their way to The Hague, where the farmers will demonstrate in the afternoon. 

With hundreds of tractors in columns, resulting accidents, and rainy weather, huge traffic jams are occurring in many places. Tractors are making their way into The Hague for the protest at Malieveld this afternoon, while others around the country are driving slowly on main roads to show their discontent. According to ANWB, this is the busiest morning rush hour ever.

What is the protest about?

They no longer want to be painted as environmental polluters who must change as a result of the nitrogen crisis, while other polluting industries such as aviation are left untouched. The Remkes commission has recommended for farms near nature reserves to be bought out, or otherwise changed to be more environmentally friendly. The commission has also suggested lowering the speed limit on regional and national roads. The farmers protesting in The Hague today are also demanding a clear, long-term agricultural policy in the long term.

10,000 farmers and 2200 tractors expected

The organisers are expecting about 10,000 farmers at the “agriactie” this afternoon in The Hague, along with 2200 tractors. The municipality of The Hague will allow only 75 tractors onto the Malieveld. The rest of the farmers will be transported to the site of the protest by shuttle transport.  Carola Schouten, the Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, will attend the protest. Some other members of parliament, including D66 member Tjeerd de Groot, will also be there.

Tensions are high

Tensions are high according to NOS, which reports that a farmer has driven their tractor into a fence to enter the Malieveld in The Hague, where the protest will be held. Farmers who could not go to The Hague are still protesting, by driving slowly along the A28 from Hoogeveen to Zwolle. At 8:30 this morning, there were still 1100 kilometers of traffic jams in the Netherlands.

However, according to a survey by Hart van Nederland, 90% of the public does support the protest.

Were you caught in a traffic jam this morning? What do you think about the farmers’ protest? Let us know in the comments below.

Feature Image: Danielle van Leeuwen. 

Ailish Lalor
Ailish Lalor
Ailish was born in Sydney, Australia, but grew up by a forest in south-east Ireland, which she has attempted to replace with a living room filled with plants in The Hague. Besides catering to her army of pannenkoekenplantjes, Ailish spends her days convincing her friends that all food is better slightly burnt, plotting ways to hang out with dogs and cats, and of course, writing for DutchReview.

3 COMMENTS

  1. good for them. they supply FOOD I hope they stay on strike the animal rights people are the ones driving this zeal of anti ag.. the “let them eat cake ( or soy”) is pervasive. I am glad 90% support the farmers.. we need a good strike here in the USA

  2. G’day, Ailish Lalor et al.,

    The farmers and the Dutch government might like to consider this, my best guess after 30 years of independent work on the subject:

    The climate-change driver is tidally induced geomagnetic shifts at the core mantle boundary driven by the earth-moon barycentre tracking top to bottom of the mantle, each month, plus n-s. We can now, from that, predict El Ninos, as solar and lunar eclipses, just shadows, however mark the track of the barycentre. The back record is perfect. We all forgot the solar tidal force, half that of the moon at this distance. On the greenhouse warming, El Nino, the repeating biggest spike in global temperatures, cannot be explained. Air pollution is another matter, but the climate is not controllable. That is the new religion and craziest hubris. Even in the Stone Age, the gods representing various forces of nature were knopwn to be ubncontrollable and to have a wicked sense of humour.

    PSR geologist/social anthropologist/subsistence farmer, Australia. Report on dvd or usb, totally free, to anyone. p.*************@gm***.com Phone 617 3289 4470

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