OM demands four months in prison for provoking blockade A18
On Thursday, the Public Prosecution Service demanded a four-month prison sentence, two of which were conditional, against a 40-year-old man from the municipality of Oost Gelre for initiating a farmers’ protest on the A18 near Westendorp at the end of last month. The road was blocked and waste was dumped. “His provoking role was decisive in blocking the A18 on July 28. Without his actions, the blockade would not have existed then and there,” said the public prosecutor during the police court hearing in Arnhem.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the man sent the text in a group conversation on WhatsApp: “Tonight people still fancy a tour through the Achterhoek, around 9 pm, including tipper with stuff?” He would also have facilitated a meeting in the run-up to the action. “8:30 pm / 9 pm, the coffee is ready here tonight.”
The public prosecutor blames him that by sending the messages and holding the meeting at his home “he contributed in a very unpleasant way to a situation in the Netherlands that is harmful to society as a whole”. Rijkswaterstaat has submitted a claim for damages of 3600 euros.