German federal authorities also fear radicalization and infiltration of the protests. The farmers' association, for its part, appealed to participants to exercise moderation. The association appealed on Saturday to platform
It also said: “We firmly reject demonstration symbols such as gallows, black flags or other symbols of extremist groups!” We should drastically distance ourselves from people who propagate fantasies of subversion or glorify violence. This also applies to right-wing extremist circles and other fringe radical groups – “also because some of them want to appropriate our protest for their basic concerns.”
Law enforcement authorities across the country expect roadblocks and other actions with tractors and other agricultural equipment. The Ministry of Economic Affairs of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania expects problems “at most motorway entrances”. The East German state has therefore lifted the Sunday driving ban for long-distance drivers. “To guarantee the population’s supply”, authorities allowed long-distance transport of goods on Sundays as an exception.
The Bavarian police union fears that the police will be overwhelmed and has criticized the farmers. “Many actions not only go far beyond the legal point of view, but also pose a danger to traffic as well as a threat to public safety and order,” explained police unionist Thorsten Grimm.
The German Farmers Association (DBV) has called for a week of nationwide protests against the federal government's policies. Farmers' outrage was sparked by planned cuts in industry subsidies following the budget crisis. Taking into account the protests that have been going on since December, the German traffic light government, made up of the Social Democrats (SPD), Liberals (FDP) and Greens, has now largely withdrawn the plans. DBV still stuck to its plans.
Following the blockade of the ferry by Germany's Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, German Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner appealed to farmers to remain peaceful during the protests. “Don't let yourself be infiltrated and exploited. You have lost your way, please come back,” the finance minister said on Saturday at the Liberals' Epiphany meeting in Stuttgart. The protest must be proportionate and within the framework of the democratic order.
The dangerous situation in which Economy Minister Habeck (Greens) found himself was “completely unacceptable”. “The damage to property, including the announced lockdowns, is disproportionate,” Lindner said, referring to previous protests and those announced for next week. As usual, there can only be one consequence here: “Breach of the peace, coercion, damage to property – these are cases for the Public Prosecutor's Office”.
Lindner defended the planned subsidy cuts. “Especially an industry that is so heavily subsidized at European and national level will not be able to avoid all contributions to consolidation.” One cannot, on the one hand, want to benefit from the now reduced electricity tax and demand additional financing for stable conversions and, on the other hand, stick to the old subsidies. “If we want new subsidies, we also have to give up the old ones,” Lindner emphasized.
Conservative opposition parties the Union support farmers joining the protests planned for next week, despite the federal government having largely reversed planned cuts to the agricultural sector. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt criticized Economy Minister Habeck's blockade of the ferry protesting farmers. But he understands the farmers' protests.
At the beginning of the closed meeting of the CSU regional group in the Seeon monastery in Upper Bavaria, he described the Habeck incident as an “impossible” derailment “that should not happen like this”. Protesting farmers blocked a ferry pier at the North Sea port of Schlüttsiel with their tractors on Thursday afternoon and prevented the Economy Minister from getting off the ferry. The protest action caused widespread criticism in politics.