German farmers, tractors and trucks block Berlin avenue in tax protest
By Thomas Escritt
BERLIN (Reuters) -Thousands of tractors and trucks and about 10,000 people blocked the avenue leading to Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Monday, capping a week of protests against higher taxes for farmers that have become a flashpoint for anti-government anger.
Vehicles that arrived overnight from across Germany parked nose-to-tail along the route, and crowds of farmers wrapped up against the cold waved German flags and held up banners marked with slogans including «Without farmers, no future».
The protests have heaped pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition as it struggles to fix a budget mess and contain right-wing groups.
By Sunday evening, police warned that the avenue was already full and called on protesters to gather at other locations, including by the Olympic Stadium in the western district of Charlottenburg.
The protests surged in response to a government decision to phase out a tax break on agricultural diesel as it tried to balance its 2024 budget after a constitutional court ruling in November threw its spending plans into disarray.
Facing a fierce backlash, the government has already agreed not to scrap a tax rebate on new agricultural vehicles and to spread the scrapping of the agricultural diesel subsidy over several years.
But farmers, with the vocal backing of the opposition conservatives and the far-right, say this does not go far enough.
«Without stability in the countryside, without agriculture our country has no future,» Farmers' Union president Joachim Rukwied said from a chilly stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate. «That's why we are prepared to take to the streets.»
He thanked Finance Minister Christian Lindner, standing next to him on the stage, for attending the rally.
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