The police want to use images to determine the identity of farmers who caused dangerous situations on highways around the farmers’ protest in Stroe on Wednesday. Farmers drove in large numbers on highways on Wednesday while this is prohibited. The focus is on people who created dangerous situations, according to the police it is not possible to trace the drivers of thousands of tractors.
Fourteen people have been arrested so far, ten of whom are still in prison. They tried to block the Ketelbrug on the A6 near the Noordoostpolder with a ship. It cannot be ruled out that more arrests will be made around the protest, a police spokesperson told NU.nl.
The police handed out several hundred fines on Wednesday. The exact number is not yet known. The police intervened mainly in excesses. The farmers were fined for various reasons.
The amount of the fines also varies. For example, tractors that collided with traffic on the A7 will not be fined for driving on the highway when that is not allowed, but they will be fined for attempted serious assault, the spokesperson explains. The fine for driving a tractor on the highway is 410 euros.
According to a spokesman, the police wanted to respect the farmers’ fundamental right to demonstrate on Wednesday. “But the agreements that have been made, such as not driving on the highway with a tractor, have been massively ignored.”
The spokesperson emphasizes that the demonstration in Stroe went well. “But it didn’t go well with how people got there and back home.”