Rudy Bouma | news hour
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In cooperation with
RTV Drenthe
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NOS News•today, 14:04•Amended today, 14:19
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“An unfortunate action,” says a spokesperson for hotel and restaurant chain Van der Valk about the image that was briefly shown on a screen on the facade of the Van der Valk hotel along the A4 highway near Schiphol yesterday afternoon. The meter high image had the text “Van der Valk supports the farmers” and the Dutch flag was reversed.
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The image was seen around 3 p.m. But a day later, the restaurant and hotel chain says it does not want to take sides in the farmers’ conflict with the national government about nitrogen policy. “It really shouldn’t have happened,” the spokesperson said.
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Various Van der Valk branches were asked whether the chain supports the farmers in their protest. But the spokesman emphasizes to the ANP news agency that Friday’s appeal on the facade of the hotel is not widely supported. “We stay away from political discussions. We have always done that,” he says. The short-lived protest was prompted by ties to a dairy farm owned by the family that runs the hotel along the A4.
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Farmlands
In the context of the farmers’ actions, more than 500 place name signs were ‘renamed’ to Boerenlanden last night.
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A playful, public-friendly action, says cheese farmer Bart Belser from Spijk bij Rhine estuary. “We don’t always want to bother citizens and we can’t keep blocking distribution centers indefinitely,” said the cheese farmer. He speaks of establishing a republic of his own “to continue to draw the attention of the public and politicians.”
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There has been a large ‘border sign’ along the A27 near Gorinchem since last night. There too, just like on the ‘place name signs’, the yellow stars of the European Union have been replaced by yellow clogs. The sign reads: “Farming countries. Where the government does not overstep its banks. Where solutions and decisions are formed together. Where people are proud of each other’s craft.”
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NOS
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In Hoogeveen, the municipality started yesterday to remove inverted Dutch flags that were hung from lampposts. There was a disturbance in the center of the city. There, some municipal employees were verbally abused. In the end, they decided to stop their cleanup and leave.
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“We have to see how we proceed. The plan to remove the flags remains in place,” a spokesperson for the municipality of Hoogeveen said. RTV Drenthe. Mayor Karel Loohuis is trying to get in touch with the activists.
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The nitrogen protests have been going on for weeks. How did we end up here? A timeline.
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From court ruling to grim protests, timeline of the nitrogen crisis
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The inverted Dutch flag has quickly developed into the symbol of the farmers’ actions against the nitrogen plans. They hang from lampposts with tie-wraps all over the country.
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A number of other municipalities have also started to remove the protest flags; this has been running without any problems so far. Rijkswaterstaat is removing the inverted flags along the highways because they would endanger road safety.
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