Biggest ever German farmers' protest

Protestors in Europe blockading cities over Net Zero

- ELIZABETH AND RICHARD COPELAND AND DARREN SMITH

"THE light will rise over the darkness!" a woman from Berlin shouted under the Brandenburg Gate on January 8, 2024 and we were friends immediately. "They do not know what things cost. I do. I grow 300 hectares of food!" said a farmer from the truck that made up a stage parked under the Gate.

Thousands were gathered with their placards, as around 3000 trucks and tractors were parked between the Gate and all the way to the other end of the avenue at the statue of König Friedrich II von Preußen.

The atmosphere was a mix of tense and exhilarating and 'we are so in control', as the farmers and truckers, workers and specialists of life essential trades had brought their giant wood burners and plenty of wood, caravans, hi-fi's pumping loud blues, portable toilet vans and kitchen vans. They dropped some of these on the ground with their wheels up, in addition to some wet-wrapped hay - that lot was not going anywhere any time soon.