BERLIN: Thousands of angry farmers descended on Berlin with their tractors and loudly booed a government minister on Monday, rounding off a week of nationwide protests against plans to cut tax breaks for agriculture.
More than 5,000 tractors were already blocking the streets and honking their horns by mid-morning, a police spokeswoman said.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner put up a robust defence of the government's plans at the protest, insisting they were about "how we can get out of a difficult situation together".
But he was met with boos and whistles when he took to the podium, with protesters chanting "liar" and calling for the government to be ousted.
"For me, the government must resign. They are no longer capable of leading us," Paul Brzezinski said, a dairy farmer based south-east of Berlin.
Farmers began a week of protests on January 8 over plans to axe certain subsidies for agriculture, after a court ruling forced the government to find savings in the 2024 budget.
The rallies prompted the government to partially walk back on the cuts, promising to reinstate a discount on vehicle tax and to phase out a diesel subsidy over several years instead of immediately.
But farmers say the moves did not go far enough and are urging Berlin to completely reverse the plans.
"It's not just about the most recent cuts. That was simply the straw that broke the camel's back," said Hendrik Pferdmenges, 45, a crop farmer from Hanover.
"We have lost too many subsidies in recent years, and there is so much regulation and bureaucracy that at some point we will no longer be able to cope," he said.
The farmers' demos have come at a time when approval ratings for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's uneasy three-way coalition government are at an all-time low.
In a recent poll for the Bild daily, 64 percent of Germans said they would like to see a change of government.
Workers from various sectors, from metallurgy and transport to education, have staged protests in recent weeks amid struggling economic growth and rising prices.
Strikes by railway workers brought transport to a standstill last week, while metal workers and public sector employees staged walkouts in December.
Official data on Monday showed the German economy shrank by 0.3 percent in 2023 as costly energy, high interest rates and cooling foreign demand took their toll. — AFP
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