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Dutch Government Sends In Military Trucks and Military Gear

Thousands of farmers are expected to drive tractors to The Hague, Netherlands, on Saturday morning to oppose the government's plan to shut down 3,000 farms. The government made the move to comply with global warming goals despite a heavy vehicle ban the day before.

It can be recalled that the Dutch government is planning to "buy and close down up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas to be in compliance with EU environmental rules" of the nitrate emission reduction plan.

According to Swedish journalist, Peter Imanuelsen, this will be the biggest demonstration yet.

According to Peter Imanuelsen, military vehicles are already arriving in the Netherlands in preparation for the farmers' protest.

On Monday, the mayor of The Hague threatened to use military gear to stop rival climate and farmer protests.

NL Times reported:

Mayor Jan van Zanen of The Hague said he could indeed authorize the use of military equipment to remove blockades or tractors in his city on March 11. On that date, the upcoming Saturday, both climate activists and farmers are set to demonstrate in the Zuid-Holland city.

"I am not going to rule out the possibility that Defense equipment will be deployed. That is available if necessary," he said in an interview with De Telegraaf. He has also asked police forces elsewhere in the country to provide officers to assist.

"We cannot handle this alone," Van Zanen told De Telegraaf. "Also to ensure that the demonstrations are safe."

Van Zanen says he will not consider banning any of the planned demonstrations for the time being. He called on those demonstrating to ensure that they can cherish a "great right." That forces him to be "radically neutral."

How incredibly patronising, out of touch, and apparently ignorant of the consequences of what's happening.

But there are limits, he said. "Blocking a road indefinitely with people or equipment is not an acceptable way of demonstrating, but a blockade," he told the newspaper. "I think that's a disruption of public order."

When more citizens really start to struggle to afford food when doing their shopping, it's highly likely they will support blockades to get the government's attention, and more.

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The protests - and rolling strikes that have affected refineries, public transport and garbage collections - aimed to pressure the government to withdraw the pension plan, which it said is essential to ensure the pension system does not run out of money.

"After hundreds of hours of discussions, the Senate adopted the pension reform plan. It is a key step to make a reform happen that will guarantee the future of our pension system," Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on Twitter.

She added she was "totally committed to ensure the text will be definitively adopted in the coming days".

Now that the Senate has adopted the bill, it will be reviewed by a joint committee of lower and upper house lawmakers, probably on Wednesday.

If the committee agrees on a text, a final vote in both chambers is likely to take place on Thursday, but the outcome of that still seems uncertain in the lower chamber, the National Assembly, where Macron's party needs allies' votes for a majority.

If the government fears it won't have enough votes in the lower house, it is still possible for it to push the text through without a parliamentary vote, via a so-called 49:3 procedure.

Opinion polls show a majority of voters oppose Macron's plan, while a slim majority supports the strike actions.

LOWER POWER SUPPLY DUE TO STRIKES

"A lot of things can still happen next week," Marylise Leon, deputy secretary general of the CFDT union, the country's largest, told Franceinfo radio. "Will the text be voted in the National Assembly? We have to rally. It's now or never."

A spokesperson for TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) said that strikes continue in the oil major's French refineries and depots, while public railway operator SNCF said national and regional services would remain heavily disrupted over the weekend.

In Paris, garbage continues to pile up on the streets, with residents seeing a growing presence of rats, according to local media.

National power production in France was reduced by 7.1 gigawatts (GW), or 14%, at nuclear, thermal and hydropower plants on Saturday due to the strikes, a CGT union spokesperson told Reuters.

Maintenance was also blocked at six French nuclear reactors, including Penly 1, the spokesperson said.

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