According to Woelders, the police intervened in the event of excesses. “That all road users get home safely is and was also a priority tonight.” Earlier in the day, Woelders told the NOS that because of the massiveness of the action, it was sparsely enforced if tractors did go on the highway. A spokesman for the national police force said it was impossible to prevent this everywhere.
On the A1, for example, farmers who drove tractors were fined. When they got back on the road after the farmers’ protest in Stroe to go home, they were driving side by side on the highway and therefore created dangerous situations. “They have been stopped, some have been ticketed,” the police said on Twitter.
In mutual communication, farmers called on each other on Wednesday to remove the license plates from their tractors, possibly to avoid a fine for driving on the highway. The police stated on Wednesday that they could also enforce afterwards, for example by checking camera images. It is not yet mandatory for tractors to carry license plates. Although the rule to do this took effect on January 1, there is a leniency period until July 1 to actually introduce the rule.
14 arrested for attempted blockade of the Ketelbrug
The police also arrested fourteen people on Wednesday who wanted to block the Ketelbrug on the A6 near the Noordoostpolder with a ship. Farmers who wanted to do this with tractors on the bridge themselves were also stopped, said police commander Willem Woelders in Nieuwsuur.
It is not clear which organization is involved in the attempt to block the Ketelbrug from the water. Two fishermen’s interest groups joined the farmers’ protest against the cabinet’s nitrogen plans last week. They did not exclude spontaneous actions then.