A group of about 15 people are demonstrating tonight at the town hall in Diever, prior to a council meeting of the municipality of Westerveld. They demonstrate against the use of poison in bulb cultivation and an earlier arrest of an activist this year.
Forty-five minutes before the city council started, a group of people gathered outside. This is an unannounced demonstration. The group is demonstrating because it says it is concerned about the health of the residents of the municipality due to the use of crop protection products in lily cultivation. They want regulations to restrict this.
But the most important point that concerned residents draw attention to is the arrest of two activists about six months ago. A man from the municipality of Stadskanaal and a woman from the municipality of Westerwolde were arrested after the words ‘Beware of Agricultural Poison’ and ‘Bulb Growing Poison-Free’ were chalked on roads and place name signs in the municipality. The two are suspected of vandalism and spent a night and day in jail.
“The chalk spray is environmentally friendly and disappears in the sun and rain without leaving any damage,” says the female detainee. “I was stuck until late in the afternoon of the next day. When I was allowed to go home, it was without my phone, without my car. They had been confiscated. I have not seen the things that were in my car to this day.”
The demonstrators say they are drawing attention to the ‘violation of the right to demonstrate’ in Westerveld. “You are allowed to spray poison, but you are not allowed to use chalk. I think that is a double standard,” says Ellen Smal on behalf of the concerned residents.
There is not much interest in the group’s protest action. Most council members were already in the town hall at the time of the action or entered via the staff entrance on the side of the building.
It is not the first demonstration. In May there was also a demonstration at the town hall against the use of crop protection products. Poison Free Westerveld came to the town hall at the time with approximately 3,000 signatures and 500 statements from general practitioners. Then there were also about a hundred farmers with tractors for a counter-demonstration, to express support for bulb growers.
The city council is not discussing bulb cultivation tonight. After the previous debate, the council agreed to investigate the legal options for a temporary ban. More will probably be known about this in the new year.