Angry farmers prevented 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 federal government and politicians from the Greens, FDP and CDU criticized the protest. The farmers are outraged because of the traffic light coalition’s planned reduction in subsidies.
The federal government described the blocking of Habeck’s arrival at the pier as shameful. “With all understanding for a lively culture of protest, no one should care about such a brutalization of political mores,” wrote government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on the platform X, formerly Twitter. The blockade of Habeck’s arrival at the Schüttsiel ferry port “is shameful and violates the rules of democratic coexistence,” it said.
Reactions from politics
The leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, was horrified: “It’s shocking what happened there and I’m deeply outraged. It’s 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.”
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on the platform who demonstrate peacefully.”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also wrote on 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
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!”
Week of action starting Monday
On Thursday, the federal government responded to the massive farmers’ protests over the planned reduction of subsidies: 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.
