The incident comes amid unrest over green reforms that are set to have major impacts on the agricultural sector.
Police in the Netherlands fired their service weapons at farmers protesting new environmental reforms, with video footage showing officers shooting at a tractor as it attempted to evade law enforcement.
The incident unfolded late on Tuesday near a highway entrance ramp in the northern town of Heerenveen, where local police claimed “tractor drivers attempted to drive into officers and service vehicles” following a stop.
“A threatening situation arose. Warning shots were fired and targeted shots were fired,” they said, adding that the tractor was hit and that three suspects were later stopped and arrested. Nobody was injured in the encounter.
Dutch police shoot at #farmer and his tractor ????.#Netherlands #FarmersProtest #FarmerProtest pic.twitter.com/0qR6EjO0L6
— Markus Haintz (@MarkusHaintzUSA) July 5, 2022
However, footage of the shooting has since emerged on social media, and does not appear to show any attempted ramming. Instead, the clip depicts two vehicles driving off the scene, neither coming close to hitting any pedestrian, with officers opening fire on the second as it sped away.
Om 22.35 heeft de ME op een trekker geschoten van een boer in Heerenveen 1/n pic.twitter.com/ogTokzBmDR
— Daniël Osseweijer (@ossewed) July 5, 2022
Another video apparently filmed around the same time shows an officer with a pistol in hand as he issues commands to a tractor driver parked near the highway ramp, all the while aiming the weapon at the vehicle.
— TeeJay (@TeeJay0063) July 5, 2022
Gideon van Meijeren, an MP with the conservative Forum for Democracy party, later commented on the footage in response to a police statement, saying it did not show anyone in “imminent danger” while adding the tags “police violence” and “farmer’s revolt.” He urged authorities to account for the apparent discrepancy “as soon as possible,” also noting that he had requested an emergency debate in parliament.
5/n pic.twitter.com/LB52uyuT6d
— Daniël Osseweijer (@ossewed) July 5, 2022
Because an officer fired their service weapon while on duty, the country’s National Criminal Investigation Department will launch a probe into the incident to determine exactly what happened, local police added.
#Dutch police keeps pulling guns.#boereninopstand #politiegeweld pic.twitter.com/vQZsiG69wV
— Frank Hoogerbeets ???? (@hobeets) July 5, 2022
The run-in came during a wave of unrest among Dutch farmers, who have vocally opposed a government initiative to slash pollution emissions, including nitrogen oxide and ammonia, by 50% over the next eight years.
Because fertilizers contain a large amount of nitrogen oxide, and livestock produce ammonia in their urine and feces, the reforms are likely to hit the agricultural industry, forcing farmers to reduce the number of livestock or cease operations altogether. Many fear the reforms will simply put them out of business, driving intense demonstrations in recent weeks, including farmer-led blockades at major transportation hubs.
Late last month, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that farmers have the right to protest, but warned that the government would not allow them to “create dangerous situations” or “intimidate officials,” language echoed by police in Heerenveen after Tuesday’s shooting.
OK Dutchies- time to get serious with these Zio-Communist Bastards!
Especially when their corporate jets spew out more carbon monoxide as opposed to carbon dioxide, than a single cow can fart methane in three years!
The hypocrisy and bullshit of the EU Parliament becomes more absurd every growing day!
The EU and it’s Zio-Communist instigators are trying their damn best to invoke another Holodomor or post-World War Two starvation of the Netherlands, and Denmark!
Dutch farmers; arm yourselves, and GET GROWING!!! The World is behind you all!
Gonzalo Lira’s interesting comments on this protest is here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m2HYnbs02Vs
Hans, are we the baddies?
Almost makes you wonder if more countries will leave the EU because of BS that keeps coming from it. Go for it UK.
Why pick on farmers above ground when the real global warming is being caused by the planet being mined, tunnelled, blasted and hollowed out for the black projects which drain the world?
You forgot to mention volcanos emiting thousands of tonnes all over the world. I’d like to see carbon offsets from James Shaw’s salary pay for those.