Protesting farmers surrounded and blocked the distribution center of the Boni supermarket in Nijkerk early Monday morning. Demonstrations have been announced across the country for today.
Other distribution centers are also the target of actions. The industry has already announced yesterday couldn’t take that and threatened with hefty claims†
At the center of the Boni in Nijkerk it is still the farmers who are the ‘boss’. The complex is surrounded by, among other things, thirty tractors. Truckers who come and load and unload are stumped. The atmosphere has been relaxed so far. “Farmers stand together and quietly drink a cup of coffee.”
Bread rolls are also distributed. “We were here at about half past three,” says one of the farmers at a picnic table, which has been placed on a flat cart. “It’s an early thing for us too. We hope of course that we don’t have to stay here too long. If The Hague listens to us, we’ll be gone in no time.”
Just as the farmers drink coffee together and while away the time campaigning, the drivers also seek each other out. They can’t do much other than exchange experiences. “I understand those farmers very well and I really support their action,” says a driver from Hartog Transport bv from Brabant.
He has no freight for Boni, but had to be elsewhere in the industrial estate this morning. He can’t get out because of the blockage. “I know exactly how those farmers feel. I come from the farm myself. My father had to sell everything at the time, because of the stricter manure policy.”
Two cops make small talk here and there, to keep the contract with the farmers good. “That’s kind of the instruction we have. Because what’s in Kootwijkerbroek and Stroe happened, we should not have it again,” says one of them. There is no question of intervention for the time being.
Thirteen-year-old Esmée from Nijkerk could not resist the appeal of the farmer’s blockade and got on a bicycle with a friend to come and have a look. Her T-shirt speaks volumes. Real women ride tractors, it says. “I want to become a farmer in the future and I also attend a green school. But if the cabinet continues like this, there will be no more farmers,” she says. “Fortunately I have a day off today and I can come to the protests. Because this has everything to do with my future.”
To encourage the farmers, a couple from Nijkerkerveen brings stroopwafels and filled cakes. It is mainly a symbolic gesture. “First that corona policy, where unvaccinated people were no longer allowed to do anything. Now again the farmers who are not listened to, we are done with it. The Hague does what it wants. People are no longer taken seriously.”
Also in other locations in the country are distribution centers of supermarket chains blocked†
protest day
It’s over for today protesters announced a nationwide protest day, but exactly where blockages or other actions take place has not been disclosed. Angry farmers keep in touch with each other in app groups.
For example, a few fires were started early this morning – presumably by protest farmers – on both sides of the A28 at Staphorst and Rouveen. The fire brigade was quickly there, traffic on the highway was probably not affected.