Angry farmers prevented German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) from leaving a ferry on the North Sea coast. A police spokesman said they blocked the pier in Schlüttsiel on Thursday. Habeck therefore had to return to the Hallig Hooge. According to the police, there were more than a hundred demonstrators.
Around 30 officers were on duty. They also used pepper spray, a police spokesman said. Nothing was known of any injuries.
The leader of the Green Party in the German Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, was horrified: “It is shocking what happened there and I am deeply outraged. It is a complete transgression of boundaries and an attack on Robert Habeck’s privacy,” she said. This has nothing to do with peaceful protest in a vibrant democracy. “Such actions cannot be justified by anything. I expect the farmers’ association to strongly condemn these attacks and distance themselves from such actions.”
The German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on the platform Farmers demonstrating peacefully.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also wrote on The German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) explained on “I always apply the same measures, whether with climate stickers or with the farmers at the ferry port: violence and coercion are despicable and also damage the cause.”
Former CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak explained on X that a limit was being crossed here. “Anyone who loudly criticizes the content of the traffic light must not remain silent now. It doesn’t work that way!”
Reduction of subsidies planned
The farmers are outraged because of the traffic light coalition’s planned reduction in subsidies. On Thursday, the German government responded to the massive farmers’ protests: The coalition wants to forego the abolition of the vehicle tax exemption for agriculture. The abolition of tax relief for agricultural diesel should be extended and implemented in several steps. However, the German Farmers’ Association considers the measures to be inadequate – and is sticking to a week of action planned from Monday.
A spokeswoman for Habeck told the German Press Agency in the evening about the incident at the ferry pier that the minister was happy to talk to the farmers. “Unfortunately, the security situation did not allow a conversation with all farmers, and the offer made by Minister Habeck to talk to individual farmers was unfortunately not accepted.”
According to police, the situation calmed down quickly after the ferry left. There were no reports that evening. “There is already a breach of the peace,” said a police spokesman when asked whether an investigation was still being carried out.
