It is somewhat like a festival in the Zuiderpark. The smell of bickering and chips wafts across the lawn. There are stalls with drinks (no beer), with merchandise (the newspaper Common sense), there are long lines at the dixies and the coins, and the thousands of protesters are dancing in the sun.
Not that it is all conviviality at the farmers’ demonstration this Saturday. Earlier in the week, the mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, imposed a restriction on the demonstration. Only two tractors are allowed, not the five thousand that Farmers Defense Force originally wanted to take.
When it turns out in the early morning that more than two tractors are still on their way to Zuiderpark, Van Zanen issues an emergency order. Tractors and other heavy vehicles are stopped at the city border, so there are some tractors on the beach of Wassenaar during the day.
With trucks from defense, the city center is closed. But it does not prevent a number of trucks from reaching the Zuiderpark. The police reports that a barrier is knocked over with a shovel, so that the trucks can still enter the park. The shovel driver was arrested, two officers were injured.
Hearts and yellow umbrellas
From the stage, the lyrics also sound less pleasant. People talk about repopulation, about the – incorrect – Nazi past of the parents of cabinet and parliament members. References are made to the ‘Great Reset’, the cartel that rules the Netherlands, and a globalist plot.
Then there is loud cheering in front of the stage. There are many people who, as witnessed by the stickers on their clothing, the hearts and the yellow umbrellas, were also present at demonstrations against the corona measures. Hardly anyone wants to NRC to talk.
Occasionally jokes are made about the climate activists who are demonstrating five kilometers away. At one point the ringmaster says that “the water cannons are on their way.” He lets go of a silence. “To the A12.” There is laughter. That highway has been blocked by Exctinction Rebellion.
Also read about Extinction Rebellion this report
Gardeners
At the side of the field, two gardeners are watching. Erik van Schie from Bleiswijk and Kees Haket from Delftgouw say to each other that they had expected more farmers.
There are – especially young contractors. They also often do not want to talk, or with their name in the newspaper. “Our words are still being twisted,” says one from Alphen aan den Rijn. The contractors come from Bunnik, Waddinxveen and Kloosterhaar. Boys are walking around with jackets from Lely, which makes agricultural machines. From an earthmoving company Wijk en Aalburg.
You can recognize them by their sturdy work shoes and waterproof jackets, the anti-government demonstrators are more likely to wear sneakers, and the heart balloons that the Forum for Democracy is handing out. Inverted flags can be seen in both groups.
Kees Haket says it is “a pity” that there are not so many farmers. Perhaps, Erik van Schie suggests, they are still fixed. After all, the A12 has been blocked by climate activists, and elsewhere traffic has come to a standstill because the tractors are being held. They both came by public transport.
Haket thinks it’s important to be here: “Agriculture is under attack.” He is self-sustaining, he says. He doesn’t use gas – his whole family has been a ‘cold gardener’ since 1928, their greenhouse is not heated. “And other horticulturalists will really not waste gas.” He says: “Farmers don’t want to be a polluter, but it takes time to innovate.”
They both vote. Maybe BBB, maybe PVV. There are no politicians from the first party in Zuiderpark, which leads to booing. Caroline van der Plas of the BoerBurgerBeweging would speak. But she has indicated that she does not feel safe at a large, confusing meeting. She has been under threat for some time. Just like the announcement that the SGP is not there either. Only PVV, BVNL van Wybren van Haga and Forum for Democracy are there.
Politicians
PVV leader Geert Wilders is there. He is the first politician to speak, expressing his support for farmers and fishermen. He asks those present whether they want “more or less Rutte and Kaag”. Less, it scans. Wilder says: “Then we will arrange that.” It is a reference to statements he made in 2014 about Moroccans.
Then farmers come on stage, a fisherman, a Polish farmer and two Canadians who have a podcast that, according to the ringmaster, is “somewhere between [Robert] Jensen and the one with the bun in it”, Arnold Karskens van Unheard of Netherlands tells what.
The last on stage are Thierry Baudet and Gideon van Meijeren of Forum for Democracy. They are talking about “the nitrogen lie” and the transformation of society that the cabinet would strive for. And about the polls that would not tell the truth: according to Baudet, the party is just as profitable as four years ago, when FVD was the big winner of the Provincial Council elections.
FVD is present everywhere on the site. Not only with balloons and stickers, but also with supporters in white jackets handing out leaflets. They quickly end up on the ground, just like cans and containers. At the end, the host of the demonstration has a household announcement: whether everyone wants to put everything in the garbage cans. “Otherwise we will be cleaning up for another twenty hours.” There seems, so is on one photo at Broadcasting West to see, heeded.