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More than 300 German farmers on Friday arrived on tractors at the party headquarters of the country’s coalition government in Berlin in a fresh protest at plans to cut fuel subsidies.
“The protests of recent weeks have shown that the profession is standing together and that a tipping point has been reached and caused the barrel to overflow,” Henrik Wendorff, president of the Brandenburg State Farmers’ Association, said in a statement.
Around 250 tractors drew up outside the party offices, the Berlin police said.
According to the association, the farmers wanted to submit a catalogue of demands to the three parties. These include halting moves by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to abolish the reduced tax rate on agricultural diesel.
Angry farmers have for weeks been protesting over the subsidy cuts, including with large demonstrations in several cities in which farmers blocked traffic with tractors and other farm equipment.
Scholz’s coalition has been under pressure to raise tax revenue or cut spending to close a major budget gap.
In a concession to the farmers, the government agreed to soften the measure by phasing out the diesel fuel subsidy over three years, instead of immediately, but has otherwise stuck by the policy.
