Farmers Defense Force (FDF) wants to come to the Nijmegen Four Days Marches on Friday with one tractor, fifty demonstrators and a refrigerated vehicle to protest against the cabinet’s nitrogen policy. That’s a compromise. The original plan, to get to the finish of the walking event with five hundred tractors, was banned by mayor Hubert Bruls via an emergency ordinance.
Farmers Defense Force then went to court to get that emergency ordinance off the table. The fear of disturbances that the demonstration would entail was unjustified, according to FDF leader Mark van den Oever. “We want to demonstrate peacefully and have nothing to do with the escalations during previous farmers’ protests,” he claimed.
“Then you can ban any demonstration in advance because professional demonstrators may come up who want to fight,” argued Van den Oever at the court in Arnhem on Wednesday.
Too busy in the city
According to a lawyer from the municipality, the fear of disorder has nothing to do with the arrival of the farmers, but it is simply too busy in the city that day to allow so many tractors. “That can lead to congestion and that can cause bad blood, which can get out of hand,” said the lawyer of the municipality of Nijmegen.
Earlier consultations between the municipality and FDF stalled because, according to the municipality, the protest group did not want to talk about a demonstration without tractors. “Less than 450 tractors was not negotiable. It could even be 700. That is impossible,” said the municipality’s lawyer.
Compromise
During the hearing it turned out that there was room for negotiation under pressure from the judge. FDF suggested standing further from the finish line with only two tractors and a hundred protesters. Ultimately, a compromise was reached with one tractor, fifty demonstrators and a refrigerated truck from which to distribute farm products to runners and the public.
The lawyer of the municipality is now examining whether there is room in the emergency ordinance to allow this. That will be announced later on Wednesday.