THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Farmers protested around the Netherlands as lawmakers voted Tuesday on proposals to slash emissions of damaging pollutants, a plan that will likely force farmers to cut their livestock herds or stop work altogether.
The government says emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia, which livestock produce, must be drastically reduced close to nature areas that are part of a network of protected habitats for endangered plants and wildlife stretching across the 27-nation European Union.
As tractors gathered outside the parliament building, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said farmers have the right to protest but not to break the law.
Some 40,000 farmers gathered last week in the central Netherlands’ agricultural heartland to protest the government's plans. Many arrived by tractor, snarling traffic around the country.
On Monday and into Tuesday, farmers again took their protests to crowded highways, driving slowly along the roads or stopping altogether. Some have dumped hay bales on roads, and small groups demonstrated at town and city halls, in some cases starting bonfires outside the buildings.
Some farmers set hay bales ablaze Tuesday alongside highways, while others gathered in towns and cities, including The Hague.
But you know, its only progressives around the world that break laws and burn stuff. Breitbart conspiracy theorists postulate that the environment move is designed to starve people to death.
Calls for them to be stopped in the name of law and order are notably absent.
