FDF has only been in existence for nine months
FDF has not been around that long. The organization was established in May of last year, immediately after more than 100 animal activists from Meat the Victims in Boxtel had occupied a pigsty. For a number of farmers, the measure was full and on 1 June 2019 the founders officially made their first statement. Their goal: to help farmers who are confronted with the excesses of environmental extremists.
There are just under 55,000 farmers in the Netherlands. It is estimated that approximately 10,000 of them are FDF supporters.
FDF is organizing a major promotion on 1 October. Thousands of farmers travel to the Malieveld in The Hague with tractors. As a result, motorists are in high traffic jams on the highways. Nevertheless, farmers from all over the Netherlands receive statements of support.
Two weeks later FDF is again successful with a new protest action. This time at the provincial houses. Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland decide to remove the new nitrogen rules on the same day. But this day also shows the other side of FDF. In Groningen, demonstrators ram the door of the provincial government with a tractor and storm the building.
The language that FDF and their supporters use is robust and provocative. For example, a message on their own site states: “February 5, The Hague must shake to its foundations, February 5, we take over the farmers from The Hague if we do not receive respect in the Catshuis.”
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