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BERLIN — Thousands of demonstrators descended on the German capital Monday as a week-long protest over subsidy cuts in the agriculture sector reached a climax at the city’s famed Brandenburg Gate. Behind the crowd, tractors, which last week blocked highways across the country lined the avenue cutting through Berlin’s Tiergarten park.
Following protests in December, the government reversed a decision on axing a tax discount for agricultural vehicles, and announced that a diesel subsidy would be phased out over three years rather than being cut immediately. But the farmers association said the concessions didn’t go far enough.
“Without stability in the countryside, without agriculture our country has no future,” Farmers’ Union president Joachim Rukwied said from the stage. “That’s why we are prepared to take to the streets.”
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While the protest was prompted by concerns in the agriculture sector, Monday’s demonstration was also outlet for general dissatisfaction with the government, adding to mounting the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he scrambles to fix a billion-euro budget blunder which led to the subsidy cuts.
Eric Krems, 36, traveled four hours with other farmers from the Oberlausitz region, south east of the capital.
“Originally we had hoped that the cuts to the agriculture subsidies would be overturned,” said the animal and produce farmer. “But in the meantime, I think it’s clear that at this protest is about a lot more. Not only us farmers are unhappy, but other areas too. Because what’s coming out of Berlin is damaging our county — especially the economy.”
Above the crowd, regional flags fluttered in the bitter January air alongside the black, red and gold of the national standard. The crowd chanted one slogan over and over: “The traffic light must go!” — a reference to the governing coalition of the Social Democrats, the Free Democrats and Greens, whose party colors evoke those of a traffic light.
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner meanwhile was booed down by protesters as he took to the stage. “Get lost! Get lost!” chanted the crowd.
Ahead of the demonstration, Scholz said in a video podcast Saturday that his government had listened to the farmer’s concerns.
“We’ve taken the farmers’ arguments to heart and revised our proposals. A good compromise,” Scholz said.
The general discontent with the German government at the farmer’s protests has been an opportunity to far-right and far-right extremists.
Known far-right groups including Free Saxons, The Third Way and The Homeland have also mobilized on social media in recent weeks, fueling talk of uprisings to “dismantle” the government, which Scholz described Saturday as “nonsense.”