A thick row of tractors blocked the main entrance of the Van der Valk hotel in Hoorn on Thursday morning. The reason for the action is the conference ‘Together we set the course for the rural area’ of the province of North Holland, to which they have not been invited. “We just want to make a statement.”
The demonstrators arrive early this morning at the hotel in Hoorn in a procession of fifty tractors. They demonstratively park their agricultural vehicles in front of the hotel entrance, where at that moment the province is talking about the future of rural areas and to which the farmers are not invited.
The farmers feel passed over, says dairy farmer Remco Rotteveel Ursem, one of the organizers. “Then you don’t talk to us, but about us. We like to have a say. Sometimes it seems as if they forget that we also want to have a voice.” According to Remco, the gap between the countryside and the city is becoming ‘so incredibly wide’ in this way. He continues, “It’s about time that changed.”
After four years of nitrogen crisis, the farmers want to show that they are still fighting. So they have not lost hope. They look forward with confidence to March 15, when the Provincial Council elections are held. Remco: “I expect a lot from the elections.”
Response of the province of North Holland: “Very surprised about the action”
The action group ‘Farmers in action North Holland’ has not registered the demonstration and seems to have taken the province and municipality completely by surprise. Martine van de Heuvel, spokesperson for the province of North Holland, reports in a response to NH News that the province is very surprised at the actions of the farmers. “We have actively invited farmers and farmers’ organizations to the meeting and they are also in the room. And Jack Rijlaarsdam has also registered for the meeting. So that we would not want to talk to farmers, as he outlines, we absolutely do not recognize that in.”
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