The Mobile Unit (ME) had to use tear gas against activists in Heerenveen on Monday evening. They blocked a distribution center there, pelted the riot police and refused to leave, the police said. The ME was also deployed in Sneek (photo), while the mayors of Overijssel decided not to intervene in farmers’ blockades late in the evening.
In Zwolle and Deventer, among others, activists maintained blockades. Mayors Peter Snijders (Zwolle) and Ron König (Deventer) and their colleague Martijn Dadema (Raalte) called on the blockades to end at 8 p.m. This was not heeded, not even when the farmers’ association LTO called on activists to stop, because otherwise the food supply would be endangered.
An emergency ordinance was announced late Monday evening in the municipality of Zwolle to end the blockades at the distribution centers. The municipality reports that the emergency ordinance applies to the distribution locations of Albert Heijn and Jumbo Hub Zwolle. The farmers present are given the opportunity by the police to leave with their tractors. If they do not do this, the police can intervene on the basis of the emergency ordinance to lift the blockades.
In Sneek, farmers didn’t seem to make any move to leave either. Mayor Jannewietske de Vries eventually issued an emergency order because of the situation. The Mobile Unit eventually had to intervene, because activists ignored several warnings. Four people have been arrested for public violence and blocking the road.
Police commander: ‘No major incidents’
Police commander Willem Woelders was moderately satisfied with the day of action at the beginning of the evening. According to him, there were no major incidents, although he agreed that it was becoming restless in some places.
Farmers blocked dozens of distribution centers. This led to empty shelves in, among other things, the dairy and meat departments in supermarkets, while speed cameras also ran into problems. Supermarket umbrella organization CBL fears millions of dollars in damage to the supermarket sector if the distribution centers are blocked for a long time to come.
Activists also re-created roadblocks on highways. For example, farmers blocked the A73 in the north of the Netherlands, the Afsluitdijk, it also hit the A67 and farmers on the A1, A37 and A28 were supported by sympathizers. Truckers joined some campaigns for so-called slow-motion campaigns.
Fishermen erected blockades in the ports of Lauwersoog, Harlingen and Den Helder. In the north, this hindered ferry services to and from the Wadden Islands. Schiphol Airport, Eindhoven Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport were not affected by the farmers’ campaigns. The police had warned in advance that major action would be taken in the vicinity of the airports.
About two hundred fines were handed out in the farmers’ protests on Monday, police commander Woelders said on a talk show. On 1† Especially people who drove tractors on the highway have been fined. At least seven people have also been arrested during blockades of distribution centers in Friesland.