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More than 200 farmers drive tractors on highways

Farmers drove their tractors onto highways in NRW this evening. The police believe they were protesting against the German government's plans to cut agricultural diesel. This also had consequences for traffic.

At a demonstration of the German Farmers' Association. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
At a demonstration of the German Farmers' Association. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Protest - More than 200 farmers drive tractors on highways

In the early evening hours in North Rhine-Westphalia, more than 200 farmers drove their tractors onto highways or blocked a highway access road. The highways 40, 57 and 61 as well as the access road to the A560 were affected. A spokesman for the Viersen district police assumed that this was a protest action directed against the German government's planned cuts in subsidies for agricultural diesel and vehicle tax. The WDR had previously reported.

According to a spokeswoman for the Wesel police, there were considerable obstructions during the action on the A57 in the direction of Cologne. There alone, 70 tractors were involved. The vehicles were diverted off the highway in Kamp-Lintfort. The public prosecutor's office has been called in. It is now being investigated whether the assembly is criminally relevant due to the obstruction of traffic or whether the assembly law has been violated. The personal details of the participants are being taken.

More than 30 tractors were stopped on the A40 in Neukirchen-Vluyn. Personal details were also taken there. The extent to which they had previously obstructed traffic in the direction of Cologne was not initially known.

On the A61 near Viersen, 20 tractors briefly paralyzed traffic in the evening. The section between the Süchteln and Viersen junctions was affected. Here, too, the vehicles were diverted off the highway.

According to the police, farmers in Voerde had tried to get onto the A3 with around 20 vehicles. This was prohibited by the police. The tractors then drove to Dinslaken under police escort, but did not cross the highway.

In Hennef, around 70 tractors blocked the end of the A560. The action was only ended after almost an hour and a half, according to a police spokesperson in Siegburg.

Earlier on Monday, thousands of farmers had already called for the austerity plans to be withdrawn at a demonstration in Berlin.

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Source: www.stern.de

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