Many suspects of farmer protests are not farmers themselves: OM

Most of the approximately 30 suspects arrested in the north of the country during the farmer's protests are not farmers themselves, said press prosecutor Jan Hoekman of the Northern Netherlands prosecutor's office in an interview with the Leeuwarder Courant. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), these people are often sympathizers: friends, relatives, contractors or people who sometimes come to a farm for work.

According to Hoekman, they feel let down by the government, whether it concerns the allowance affair or the earthquakes. "Perhaps now also back to the energy crisis," he told the newspaper. "If I had to look for a general kind of explanation, it would be there: in a great discontent in society. Whether you are very specifically a victim of that or that you just feel a huge sympathy for the person who is victimized by it, or simply because you like demonstrating and you always raise your hand. These are all factors that can play a role."

Hoekman also pointed to the role of social media. "And then you have an easy outlet called the Internet. Or an apparently fairly invisible outlet if it concerns a demonstration where a lot of other people are walking around. (..) There will also be people are easy to get carried away." According to Hoekman, the OM also saw some suspects at coronavirus demonstrations.

Last summer there were weeks of farmers' protests, including highway blockades and waste dumping. More than a hundred people have been arrested throughout the country, with around 30 arrested in Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe.