Farmers blocked traffic with their tractors on several highways in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday. There were long traffic jams – similar to those experienced by the climate activists. However, there is a crucial difference, say lawyers.
By Nina Magoley and Christina Höwelhans
Drivers had to accept up to two hours delays on North Rhine-Westphalia’s motorways on Monday: protesting farmers had blocked lanes and driveways with their tractors in the middle of rush hour traffic, thus causing significant traffic jams. The motorways on the Lower Rhine were particularly affected by the actions. The largest was on the A57 towards Cologne: 76 tractors jammed traffic there. Farmers also sometimes blocked both lanes on the A40 and A61.
According to the police, mostly farmers’ personal details were recorded. On the A560 near Hennef, where around 70 tractors had stopped traffic, the officers filed a complaint against unknown persons. According to news agencies, investigations are also underway on suspicion of a violation of the Assembly Act.
Climate activists: prison sentences for road blockades
If you compare the impacts, the actions of farmers are similar to the road blockades of climate activists. When representatives of the “last generation” stick themselves on roads, they also cause traffic jams and chaos – and are now receiving harsh fines or even days in prison for this.
The protests differ in terms of content: With their actions, the so-called “climate gluers” demand more political action and responsibility in saving the climate. Farmers are protesting that government subsidies should be withdrawn.
Penalties for roadblocks?
Activists stick themselves to the streets
The actions are comparable in that they can both legally be viewed as “criminal coercion,” says Cologne criminal law expert Christian Kemperdick. “Whether criminal investigations are carried out against the farmers will also depend politically on how long and how often the intended traffic jams occur.” If such traffic jam-causing blockages were to repeat themselves in the future, he assumes that “the public prosecutor’s office would initiate criminal proceedings on the instructions of the Ministry of Justice.”
A question of frequency?
Blocking is generally considered coercion because it prevents people from continuing on their way, says traffic law expert Rainer Pohlen from Mönchengladbach. However, he assumes that short blockades that do not endanger anyone will hold up in court.
Dispute over agricultural diesel: Farmers block motorways in North Rhine-Westphalia
Obviously there is no general answer to this. A legal assessment depends on the individual case, says Pohlen – and on “how specifically such a blockage is set up, how long it lasts, and the extent to which other road users have alternative options.”
“Tradition of disobedience”
Lisa Bogerts, Protesforscherin
Another question is the acceptance of such actions. “The form of the protests is similar,” says Lisa Bogerts from the Institute for Protest and Movement Research in Berlin. Gluers and farmers alike invoked the “tradition of disobedience” by not announcing the blockades and thereby specifically accepting the risk of prosecution: “Consciously disrupt and be radical in order to draw attention to the urgency of the issue.”
So far, however, the farmers’ protests seem to have met with greater acceptance among the population. But that is also because the farmers’ blockades have not yet occurred so often and have not yet interfered with people’s everyday lives so often. “That can of course change if this form of protest is now used excessively by this group.”
Media reports determine impact
The media also plays a major role in the general assessment and judgment of such actions, says Bogerts. The trend in media reporting is obviously that the form of the protest receives more attention than the content.
Those who don’t like the content are of course very right that the form is often rejected as illegitimate, too disruptive, too radical. This is then also used in political discussions.
Lisa Bogerts, Protestforscherin
Balancing with the fundamental right to freedom of assembly
Traffic lawyer Pohlen also points out that farmers can in principle rely on their basic right to freedom of assembly – even if there are restrictions: “Meetings must generally be registered 48 hours in advance if the whole thing is not viewed as a so-called spontaneous meeting. Then it is necessary there is no registration.”
Pohlen sees a crucial difference to the actions of the “Last Generation” when it comes to the court’s assessment: “By sticking themselves to the street, the climate stickers deprive themselves of the opportunity to quickly clear the street if necessary.” The activists would first have to be solved with great effort. This has a different quality than the blockades by farmers.
Our sources:
- WDR interview with lawyer Christian Kemperdick
- WDR interview with lawyer Rainer Pohlen
- WDR interview with protest researcher Lisa Bogertz
- WDR inquiries to the police
- Information from the WDR traffic studio
- dpa news agency
2023-12-19 20:12:43
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