Tractors converge on Berlin for farmers’ protest

Farmers and their tractors rumbled towards Berlin from every corner of Germany on Sunday ahead of a giant protest demanding a rethink of plans to tax
farmers more.
Some 3,000 tractors, 2,000 trucks and 10,000 people were expected to fill the streets around Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Monday for a rally that will cap a week of protests against the government.
The protests have heaped pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition as it struggles to fix a budget mess and contain right-wing forces.
Caught on the back foot, it has already agreed not to scrap a tax rebate on new agricultural vehicles and to spread over years the scrapping of an agricultural diesel subsidy.
But farmers, with the vocal backing of the opposition conservatives and the far-right, say this does not go far enough.