Enlarge image
Rubber boots and farmers in front of the district office of the FDP in Kempten, Bavaria
Photo: Stefan Puchner / dpa
According to police estimates, 105,000 people took part in the farmers' protests against the policies of the federal government this week in Bavaria alone. The ten Bavarian police headquarters also estimated the number of tractors and other vehicles at the almost 700 protest rallies in the Free State at around 73,700. This was announced by the Ministry of the Interior in Munich on request. A total of 7800,<> police officers were deployed.
The number of farms in Bavaria has fallen to less than 100,000 in recent years. This means that mobilisation is comparatively high. Nevertheless, a number of farmers took part in several protest actions and many supporters do not run a farm themselves.
Judging by the large number of rallies, there were only a few crimes, according to the authorities. However, a number of rallies were not registered: According to the report, there were 682 "police-supervised assembly situations", 273 of which were unregistered.
The two largest rallies took place almost simultaneously in Nuremberg and Munich: In Nuremberg on Friday, around 5000,2500 farmers and supporters came to the third and last large farmers' rally of the week, according to police counts, with around <>,<> tractors and agricultural machinery. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) not only received friendly applause during his appearance, but also boos and "hypocrites" from the audience.
First farmers gather in Berlin for Monday demo
According to the organizers, 3000,1600 people came to the Munich rally of freight forwarders, supported by several Bavarian business associations, with <>,<> trucks and other vehicles, including several tractors.
Within the Bavarian government, there is discord between the CSU and the Free Voters, triggered by the competition between the two coalition partners for speeches at the farmers' rallies. Aiwanger, the leader of the Free Voters, complained about attempts by the CSU to block his speeches at large rallies.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, farmers are also preparing for a major rally. This is to take place on Monday on the Straße des 17. Juni in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Dozens of land vehicles have already gathered there. The farmers' association and its regional organisations have called for a large demonstration on Monday. Thousands of participants are expected. The protest is supported by the transport industry, truck drivers and freight forwarders.
The demonstration is considered the culmination of the wave of protests by farmers in recent days.
Meanwhile, the "Last Generation" has accused politicians of being much less rigorous against farmers than against climate protesters. Several police spokesmen stressed that the organizers of the peasant rallies had willingly cooperated with the authorities.
The immediate cause of the farmers' protests is the cancellation of the tax break for agricultural diesel planned by the traffic light coalition; However, farmers' anger and rage have a history of years.
The coalition has already backtracked and has withdrawn the initially planned cancellation of the vehicle tax exemption for agricultural vehicles. However, this is not enough for the farmers' association and the association Agriculture Connects Bavaria, which are jointly organizing the protests.
lpz/dpa