Dutch farmers strike back against the government in the Netherlands

Farmers in their tractors & heavy machinery in the Netherlands have taken to the streets, blocked distribution centres, sea ports, airports and border crossing in a protest aimed at the Dutch Government's push to force the industry to cut nitrogen emissions by 40%.

The policy means that farms would either have to scale down operations or shutdown completely to meet targets in the short term. The policy also aims to reduce livestock in farms by 30%, as well as impose restrictions on the fishing industry to meet requirements to be granted a nitrogen emission permit to operate.

Police have started to crackdown on gatherings of farmers by infiltrating protests and using aggressive tactics including drawing and firing weapons at farmers.