Farmers will protest again on Monday. It is unknown where and how large the actions will be. According to Mark van den Oever of Farmers Defense Force (FDF) from Sint Hubert, it will ‘fire up from noon’.
These are ‘wild actions’. FDF does not coordinate and initiate it. “It is on the initiative of the farmers,” says Van den Oever, who does report that “everything that has wheels will roll.”
‘We won’t take it’
Several videos are circulating online calling for protest against the government’s nitrogen policy. Van den Oever also recorded a video. According to him, the large-scale farmers’ campaign in Stroe on Wednesday had no effect at all. He asks people who are going to campaign to spare citizens as much as possible.
“We will not take it. From twelve o’clock everything will roll that can roll and has wheels. Tuesday is the day of death recorded for us. There is a great cry among the supporters to throw in the towel,” says Van den Oever. “We as the FDF have decided not to commit ourselves to that, to withdraw from the fight and not to coordinate anything. You know what to do. We will see what will happen.”
‘Actions will certainly come’
The Agractie group also does not want to report anything about plans for Monday, but ‘actions will certainly come’, says foreman Bart Kemp. He already said on Friday that farmers will take action in the coming period. On Thursday evening, ten farmers came to the building of the House of Representatives. Those actions will sometimes be a nuisance, he predicted. Van den Oever also thinks that any actions on Monday may affect traffic.
The police say that if there are indeed actions, ‘the line will be the same as Wednesday’, at the protests in Stroe. “It’s fine to exercise your rights, but tow tractors on the highway are prohibited,” a spokeswoman said.
It is maintained
So it will be enforced again. That didn’t always happen on Wednesday. “Wednesday the actions were so massive that it was actually impossible to enforce. It was agreed that they would not go on the highway, but that was massively ignored. We also had to look at road safety, at that of the farmers, but also from other people on the road.”