German Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck and his wife were unable to disembark from a ferry because disgruntled farmers blocked a jetty in Schluettsiel on the North Sea coast Thursday evening.
More than 200 farmers were there to show their displeasure with Germany’s plan to cut diesel subsidies for agricultural purposes to make up for a multi-billion-dollar shortfall in Germany’s 2024 budget.
Some farmers tried to board the ferry but were held back by police. Behavior by some of the protesters has drawn widespread criticism.
“We are an association that defends democratic traditions,” Joachim Rukwied, chief of Germany’s DBV agricultural lobby group, said in a statement. “[Despite] our discontent, we respect a politician’s rights to privacy.”
Habeck and his wife, who were returning from a vacation, had to return to the island of Hallige Hooge to board another ferry to the mainland.
“I share farmers’ concerns, but this transgression is absolutely unacceptable,” Hendrik Wüst, governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state and a member of Germany’s main conservative opposition bloc, posted on X. He said the demonstration “damages the farmers’ justified cause and must have consequences.”
“With all due respect for a vibrant protest culture, nobody should be unconcerned by such a coarsening of political customs,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit posted on social media.
Farmers have already mounted a demonstration in Berlin that included bringing tractors into the city.
More demonstrations are set to be staged next week.