A video of farmers protesting with their tractors out on the road in Germany’s Dresden city has gone viral with the false claim that German farmers were protesting in solidarity with the Indian farmers, who are currently protesting against the farm laws.
The man shooting the video can be heard saying that the farmers in Germany are out in the streets to support Indian farmers, against Modi.
While the video is indeed from Germany, we found out that the farmers had gathered to demonstrate against the new fertilizer regulations set by the state government in Saxony.
CLAIM
The video was shared by several users as ‘Germany farmer in favour of india farmers (sic).’
Hindi TV channel, News24 also shared the video as German farmers demonstrating in solidarity with Indian farmers.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We were able to establish that the video is from Dresden, Saxony in Germany.
At the time stamp 01:22, a yellow-coloured tram passes by in the viral video.
A keyword search of the same led us to a photo on stock-photo website, Alamy, which carried an image of a tram similar to the one in the viral video. The display on top of the tram reads, ‘7 Pennrich,’ denoting the tram line 7 between Weixdorf and Pennrich in Saxony.
A comparison of the tram in the viral video and the image on Alamy can be seen below.
We also reached out to Till Eckert, a fact-checker at Germany-based organisation, Correctiv.org, who confirmed that the video was indeed from Dresden.
WHY WERE THE FARMERS PROTESTING?
Eckert also informed us that the video was of the protest that took place in Dresden on 30 November in front of the Saxon Ministry of Agriculture against the new fertiliser regulations, and that “it had nothing to do with solidarity for India’s farmers.”
In a statement to Correctiv.org, who reached out to ‘Land schafft Verbindung’ on behalf of The Quint, Paul Kompe, Chairman of LSV, clarified that the organisation along with the Saxon State Farmers Association had gathered on 30 November in Dresden regarding the state’s fertilizer ordinances
“The video shown on your Facebook link was most likely made by a Dresden passer-by when our machines (on the way to the State Chancellery) were jammed...in front of the police cordon at Albertstrasse.”Mike Krause, one of the organisers of the protest
Krause further clarified that the protest was to demand a reduction in red areas in the fertiliser ordinance.
GERMAN FARMERS WERE PROTESTING THE FERTILISER REGULATIONS: NEWS REPORTS
A report by German news outlet, Sachsische De, carrying visuals similar to the viral video, states that “hundreds of farmers from all over Saxony came to Dresden with their tractors on Monday afternoon,” to protest against the fertilizer ordinance.
A regional daily Freie Presse from Saxony had also reported that state farmers’ association and the ‘Land schafft Verbindung’ association were protesting the new rules because they feared that they caused “significant production restrictions.”
They are calling for the so-called ‘red areas’ to be reduced by 80 percent. These ‘red areas’ are considered to have high levels of nitrate pollution in the groundwater, which is why strict regulations on fertiliser use have been imposed by the government in these areas.
Evidently, the German farmers’ protest against regulations in the state of Saxony has been falsely shared as a protest in solidarity with the Indian farmers.
(Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to include the false claim shared by News24.)
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