Several farmers’ actions near highways, A7 near Purmerend towards the north closed | Domestic

According to a police spokesperson, there are approximately 25 tractor units on the A7. Traffic can still pass through a gas station. The police are talking to the farmers and there are also consultations with the municipality and the Public Prosecution Service to see how they will tackle the situation.

It is suspected that farmers will block more roads tonight in solidarity with their European colleagues. Farmers’ protests have been going on for days in France, Belgium and Germany, among others. The farmers protest against what they see as a ‘pile of rules’ they have to deal with. They say they can hardly get rid of their manure anymore.

It is around nine o’clock when the first actions arrive. Trekkers gather on many major roads and fires are started. This happens, among others, at Apeldoorn (A50) and Nijkerk, Nunspeet and Staphorst (all three A28). The N36 between Ommen and Hardenberg is blocked in both directions. The entrance to the A32 near Steenwijk is also closed.

Farmers have also gathered on the A1 near Markelo. The police are trying to stop the farmers at the driveway at Markelo. Here a cat and mouse game takes place with police cars blocking the road and farmers trying to drive past them.

Dozens of hikers are standing along the A50 near the Van der Valk hotel. Here they set off fireworks and a big fire rages on the roadside. They feed this fire by throwing new waste on it. There are chemical packages among the flames.

Also at the Veeneendaal-West exit of the A12, several dozen angry farmers and a large number of tractors had a fight this evening. blockade set up. Among other things, they set fire to a large pile of waste there. There is a lot of smoke in the area due to the fire.

The farmers started building the blockade this evening around 8:15 p.m. Several trailers filled with waste were then emptied and set on fire. Because the fire is difficult to fight, the emergency services have scaled up to the ‘medium fire’ signal to get additional vehicles to the location. Traffic on the A12 is affected by the smoke and is allowed to drive at a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour.

Protests are also taking place in several places along the A15. This happened on viaducts and along the road. For example at the Vuren, Geldermalsen and Andelst exit. The fire brigade had to take action to extinguish several outdoor fires.

According to the Barneveldse Krant, farmers are also protesting on a provincial road in Stroe. The Mobile Unit would also be present there. There are also dozens of tractors on the Parallelweg in Meerkerk, near the A27. Hay bales have been set on fire. This causes nuisance and speed limits on the highway, the mayor reports.

A spokeswoman for Rijkswaterstaat said that the A7 is currently the only highway where a lane is closed. The rest mainly concerns the entrances and exits. According to her, traffic is not affected much by the actions.

It is highly likely that farmers’ protest group Farmers Defense Force is organizing the blockade. Statements from the group can be read on social media that point to this.

Farmers had already announced that they would come up with new actions this week. The A2 motorway between Maastricht and Liège was closed for several hours on Monday because farmers had blocked the border crossing on Belgian territory in both directions with tractors. The activists, from Wallonia, Flanders and Limburg, spoke of a spontaneous initiative.

One of the farmers previously said they planned to stay on the A2 until 4 p.m. “We still have to milk the cows,” said Denny Heggen from Teuven, Belgium. There were still tractors on the road around 4 p.m., but according to ANWB Traffic Information, traffic continued as normal at the border crossing more than an hour later, during the evening rush hour.

Last Friday, dozens of farmers drove to Utrecht where they parked their tractors at the provincial government building. They were then received in the lobby of the building, where King’s Commissioner Hans Oosters listened to them.

Anja Henken, organic poultry farmer from Leersum, said then that it was ‘the very last time’ that they were here. She called politicians unreliable: “And when I have those people around me, we all have only one duty and that is to give those people a final warning.”