The protest caps off a week-long demonstration against a plan to cut farmers' fuel subsidies.
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00:00 German farmers blocked the main motorway access roads in some parts of the country on Monday.
00:06 It`s the start of a week of protests against the government plan to eliminate tax benefits
00:11 for farmers. In Berlin, hundreds of tractors blocked the main access to the Brandenburg
00:17 Gate. Protests planned for the next seven days include rallies that will disrupt traffic
00:22 in several regions.
00:23 Farmers are promising to block the roads for the next eight days, despite the German government
00:28 revising the 2024 budget that sparked these protests in the first place. The changes will
00:34 see agricultural diesel subsidies reduced over the next two years before ending in 2026.
00:39 But farmers say this is not enough.
00:43 "The federal government is imposing a tax increase on the only sector that works climate
00:54 neutral, namely agriculture. We use solar energy mainly. Sold as a reduction of climate
01:02 harmful subsidies. This is so completely wrong."
01:06 The ruling coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz infuriated farmers last month with plans
01:12 to abolish the car tax exemption for agricultural vehicles and tax breaks on diesel fuel.
01:17 [WHOOSH]