The farmers are planning further protests on Thursday, March 14. The ports of Antwerp, Ghent and Zeebrugge in particular would be targeted.
Once again the farmers are taking action because they do not agree with the stricter environmental regulations. At the same time, they want to denounce the declining income in the agricultural sector and a fairer price for their products. Because their demands are not met, they are organizing a new protest on Thursday, March 14.
The new protest is organized by the farmers’ organization United Young Farmers. “Farmers are still concerned. Their future is still uncertain,” spokesperson Benedikt Sas, professor of food safety and organic chemistry at Ghent University and director of Animal Health Flanders (DGZ), told VRT NWS.
“No base”
The ports of Antwerp, Ghent and Zeebrugge are mainly targeted. Filter blocks will also be held. The farmers are also asking other sectors to join the campaign. “The nitrogen decree continues to exist even though the Council of State has issued negative advice twice. The entire nitrogen approach is based on very dubious scientific figures and models with a huge margin of error,” says Sas. “That is no basis at all for causing a social massacre in agriculture, which we will still need.”
In recent weeks, farmers have regularly held protests. At the end of February, the European district in Brussels was flooded with at least 900 protesting farmers and tractors. Luxemburgplein and several highways have also been blocked by the activists, resulting in a lot of traffic jams.
