BERLIN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of German farmers protested against the government's agricultural policies and caused massive traffic restrictions in German cities on Friday.
The new restrictions for fertilizers would be "neither fact-based nor science-based", said Dirk Andresen, spokesperson of the initiative "countryside creates connection" which had asked German farmers to "stick together" in the protests.
The farmers described the tightening of the fertilizer ordinance as "incomprehensible" because the effects on groundwater of the previous reform had not even been evaluated.
Robert Habeck, leader of the Green party in Germany, expressed his understanding for the protests.
"The subsidy policy of the EU and the export orientation of the economy rely on producing more and more at ever lower prices," Habeck said.
With regards to the farmers, Habeck added that "every new regulation reduces the income with which they have to feed their families or pay off debts."
Coinciding with the start of the International Green Week Berlin, hundreds of tractors drove through the city center of the German capital. In Stuttgart, 1,000 farmers registered to rally while in Nuremberg, the organizers even expected up to 10,000 participants.
Last year, German farmers had already protested against the government's plans to boost environmental and animal protection in agriculture and to address nitrate pollution of groundwater caused by fertilization.
