Dutch Farmers Vow Protests During Famed La Vuelta Bicycle Race

TOPSHOT - Tractors drive down the A1 highway between Apeldoorn and Stroe on their way back
VINCENT JANNINK/ANP/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The Dutch farmers have unveiled plans to protest during the famed Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) bicycle race later this month, which will start this year from the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

In an attempt to take their message to an international audience, Dutch farmers have announced their intention to stage protests alongside the Vuelta a España on August 20th, during the second stage of the race when it will pass through the towns of Woudenberg and Scherpenzeel.

“It is not about a blockage that hinders the cyclists,” dairy farmer Teus van der Wind told the local public broadcaster RTV Utrecht.

“We want to demonstrate along the course with flags and banners and a huge line of tractors, trucks and aerial platforms,” the farmer said, noting that they hope to be able to send their message out through the national and international coverage of the cycling event.

The Woudenberg and Scherpenzeel areas through which the race will pass are chief targets of the government’s attack on the farming industry. Globalist Prime Minister Mark Rutte has pushed forward plans to cut nitrogen emissions by at least 50 per cent by the end of the decade, which some estimates have warned would shut down 30 per cent of livestock farms throughout the country.

“This area is being hit so hard by the nitrogen reduction proposed by the cabinet,” Van der Wind said. “It is a beautiful area with many innovative livestock farms. We have been living together with citizens and nature for hundreds of years, and that is actually being unraveled.”

The organisers of the race have said that they have been in contact with the farmers group Agractie and have agreed to allow the protests take place as long as the safety of the cyclists is not jeopardised.

The race has also agreed to allow protesters to hang the inverted Dutch flag, which has become a symbol of dissatisfaction with the government, along the route of the race.

The announcement of the protest comes after initial negotiations between farmers organisations and Mark Rutte’s government failed to make any progress last week, with the government refusing to back down from its EU-driven green agenda and its nitrogen emissions standards.

In response to the lack of compromise from the government, some farmers announced “stronger actions” should be expected from the protesters.

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