Farmers Blocking Highways in Germany

In addition to the mass protest rally of several thousand farmers and 1,300 tractors in Berlin, from all over Germany yesterday, farmers with tractors also blocked and slowed traffic on highways in North Rhine Westphalia (N.R.W.) overnight: Affected by tractorcades were the much-frequented highways A 40, A 57 and A61, and the access road to A560 was also affected. The well-organized protests were nominally against the government’s recent announcement that state subsidies for diesel use would be cut, but the farmers are also protesting the EU Commission’s ban of insecticides and pesticides.