All week the news was dominated by protests at distribution centers and on highways. The government’s nitrogen plans in particular have to bear the brunt. There is also resistance in the provincial government.
The news week starts at distribution centers of the Coop in Gieten and the Jumbo in Beilen. Tractors and other vehicles block the entrances, trucks cannot enter and leave the site, the protesters only leave the next day. Blockades are also set up in other places in the province on Monday and the rest of the week.
Many protesters are protesting against the government’s nitrogen policy. The province of Drenthe is also not happy with the approach taken by the cabinet in the field of nitrogen. The now well-known nitrogen map is especially irritating. Deputy Henk Jumelet indicated on Tuesday that the province of Drenthe does not want to use that map as a starting point when combating nitrogen emissions.
Nature management organizations and the Nature and Environment Federation (NMF) want the province to take better control of the nitrogen dossier. They don’t mind that the card is off the table. “But shooting the nitrogen map must not lead to altering the ultimate nitrogen reduction that must be achieved in 2030 and 2040,” says Jan Gorter of Natuurmonumenten.
Meanwhile, buying from the farmer is gaining in popularity. “People will look in their environment to see where they can go for certain products instead of the supermarkets. Like: we want to support that farmer, then we also try to buy in that way. Locally,” explains Alie Jobing, she has a milk tap in Grolloo and notices that there is more run-up.
Besides farmers’ protests and nitrogen discussions, there was of course plenty of other news this week. This is how the new exhibition opened in the Kamp Westerbork Memorial Center The Memory of Camp Westerbork. Part of this is a temporary exhibition, which underlines that the former camp can be viewed in many different ways.
The exhibition should make people think about the war and the memorial center. For example, do you still have to try very elderly war criminals? Does all the attention for Anne Frank do justice to all other Jewish victims? And may we today compare certain current events with the Holocaust?