Farmers are protesting against the traffic light plans for agricultural subsidies. Habeck feels the displeasure personally – and is worried. The mood in the country is heating up, he says.
Demonstrators prevented Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) from leaving a ferry on the North Sea coast. A police spokesman said they blocked the pier in Schlüttsiel on Thursday.
Habeck therefore had to return to the Hallig Hooge. The Economics Minister only reached the mainland on another ferry that night, as the Flensburg police and a ministry spokesman confirmed in the morning. According to the ministry, the minister was traveling privately.
According to initial information from the police, there were more than a hundred demonstrators. Around 30 officers were on duty. They also used pepper spray, a police spokesman said. Nothing is known of any injuries. The federal government and politicians from the Greens, FDP and CDU criticized the protest. The farmers are outraged because of the traffic light coalition’s planned reduction in subsidies.
Police: Calls on social media for blockade action
After the blockade, the Flensburg police announced new details about their operation. “Calls for a demonstration at the Schlüttsiel ferry pier, where Dr. Habeck was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, were spread on social media,” the police in Flensburg said on Friday. Around 80 agricultural vehicles made their way to the ferry pier on Thursday. Up to 300 people gathered there to demonstrate against the federal government’s austerity plans.
When the ferry reached Schlüttssiel around 5 p.m., the situation was tense and a dialogue between Habeck and the meeting leaders could not be made possible, the police reported. 25 to 30 people from the meeting tried to get on the ferry. Emergency services sometimes held them back using pepper spray. “After the ferry left, the situation calmed down and the meeting dispersed around 7 p.m.”
Shipping company boss: storming narrowly avoided by casting off
According to the Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei, the ferry in the port of Schlüttsiel was almost stormed by demonstrators. The captain prevented this at the last moment by casting off again, said the shipping company’s managing director, Axel Meynköhn, to the dpa. All approximately 30 passengers who came from the Hallig were prevented from leaving the ferry. A truck driver was forced to reverse from the ramp back onto the ferry. “In my view, this is coercion. This is a bad process,” said Meynköhn. There could also have been medical emergencies on board.
The captain, with the bodyguards on board and after consultation with the police on land, decided to cast off again. “If this decision had been made a minute later, the ferry would have been stormed.” The managing director said he knew from the crew that people would have jumped over if the ship had not already been too far away. “It wasn’t a minute too late, otherwise the mob would have been on board, with unimaginable consequences.”
Habeck: The mood in the country is heating up
Habeck was worried about the mood in Germany. The Green politician explained on Friday: “What worries me, even worries me, is that the mood in the country is heating up so much. As a minister, my job is to protect the police. Many, many others have to fend off attacks on their own and can’t do theirs Don’t share the uncertainty. They are the heroes and heroines of democracy.” The “Lübecker Nachrichten” had previously reported on this.
“Protesting in Germany is a valuable asset,” the Vice Chancellor continued. “Coercion and violence destroy this asset. We should counteract this with words and deeds.”
After the blockade, Habeck wants to talk to farmers – from the region and also at the federal level, as a spokeswoman for the Green politician said on Friday. “It’s part of his style to speak directly to people.”
The federal government described the blocking of Habeck’s arrival at the pier as shameful. “With all understanding for a lively culture of protest, no one should care about such a brutalization of political mores,” wrote government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on the platform X, formerly Twitter. The blockade of Habeck’s arrival at the Schüttsiel ferry port “is shameful and violates the rules of democratic coexistence,” it said.
Reactions from politics
The leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, was horrified: “It is shocking what happened there and I am deeply outraged. It is a complete transgression and an attack on Robert Habeck’s privacy,” she said. This has nothing to do with peaceful protest in a vibrant democracy.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on the platform who demonstrate peacefully.”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also wrote on
“Wet dreams of overthrows”
Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) said on Friday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”: “These are people who don’t care about German agriculture, they have wet dreams of upheavals, and that won’t happen.” He described the process as unacceptable.
Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) also strongly condemned the blockade. “Every protest has limits,” said Günther in Kiel. The farmers’ association and its Schleswig-Holstein president Klaus-Peter Lucht have formulated these clearly: “No blockade actions and a clear distancing from extreme fringe groups, violations of the law or calls for this.” “These limits were far exceeded in yesterday’s action against Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck,” said Günther.
Former CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak explained on X that a limit was being crossed here. “Anyone who loudly criticizes the content of the traffic light must not remain silent now. It doesn’t work that way!”
Farmers’ association distances itself from blockade
The German Farmers’ Association condemned the blockade of the ferry and distanced itself from the process. “Personal attacks, insults, threats, coercion or violence are not acceptable,” said association president Joachim Rukwied, according to the statement. “Blockades of this kind are a no-go.”
“We are an association that upholds democratic practices,” said Rukwied. Despite all the dissatisfaction with the federal tax plans, his association naturally respects the privacy of politicians.
For weeks, farmers across the country have been demonstrating against the planned end of tax breaks for agricultural diesel and vehicle taxes. On Thursday, the federal government withdrew parts of its plans. However, the farmers’ association described the concession as insufficient and is sticking to the planned week of action starting next Monday.