The German establishment has been caught off-guard by the sudden emergence in force of major agrarian discontent as thousands of farmers took to the streets of Berlin and other regional centres Monday morning to protest the abolition of diesel fuel subsidies by the country’s green-left government.
Hundreds of tractors were seen simultaneously in the cities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Chemnitz as farmers rallied against government plans to abolish subsidies on agricultural diesel and introduce new taxes for their vehicles with farmers’ groups proclaiming the matter a clear red-line issue for their industry.
