The farmers' protests have led to the first disruptions on Monday in parts of northern and eastern Germany.
Farmers have used hundreds of tractors to block access to highways across the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The farmers enjoyed support for their cause — opposing a planned reduction in diesel subsidies — from road freight companies who are against a proposed increase in truck tolls.
In the Cloppenburg district of northwestern Lower Saxony, a federal highway was blocked by some 40 vehicles.
Blocking federal motorway lanes represents an offense," police for the nearby town of Oldenburg posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Our colleagues will follow this consistently!"
Police in the eastern state of Saxony said several motorway entrances there were also being blocked.
Why are the farmers demonstrating?
Farmers are protesting a planned reduction in diesel subsidies announced as part of federal budgetary readjustments.
The government decided to make the cuts as part of a push to save around €60 billion ($66 billion) in funds that had been repurposed from COVID-era loans, a move which Germany's constitutional court ruled unlawful.
The German Farmers' Association (DBV) is calling for a general strike starting on Monday in protest of the measures.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the government aims to continue pushing towards a climate-neutral future, strengthening social cohesion, and supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia, but will now have to do so with "significantly less money."
NRW state leader understands protests, but urges restraint
The state premier of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, has expressed understanding for the protests but urged farmers to stay within the law.
Wüst, a member of the conservative Christian Democrat opposition to Chancellor Olaf Scholz's traffic light coalition, said the proposed price hikes on diesel were "not peanuts."
"It is a lot of money that is in question, and that's why I can understand that there is a protest," he told public broadcaster ZDF.
Wust said it was important that burdens were distributed "fairly" across all sectors and not placed disproportionately on one social group.
However, he also called on the demonstrators to adhere to agreements with the police and follow their guidance.
"Democracy thrives on discourse, on speech and counter-speech," said Wüst. "We have to concede that to one other, even if we don't agree with every argument of everyone who demonstrates in this country. But everyone must abide by the rules."
"Crimes of any kind are unacceptable."
Thuringia intel chief says danger of far-right infiltration
The head of German domestic intelligence in the state of Thuringia has warned that right-wing extremists might seek to use the farmers' protests against the federal government to their own ends.
Stephan Kramer, president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia, told Berlin's Tageszeitung newspaper that right-wing extremists had "steadily and consistently tried to infiltrate any form of legitimate citizen protest."
Kramer said the aim was to establish a stronghold in civil society and "present themselves as the true representatives of the people."
It was "not really a surprise" that farmers' protests should be used, Kramer expanded. "Each emotional topic is and will be suitable for this strategy and would be used."
In response to such comments, Joachim Rukwied, chairman of the State Farmers Association for the state of Baden Württemberg, told the broadcaster RBB Inforadio on Monday that "we will ensure we are not infiltrated" by such groups.
Traffic blocked in central Berlin
In Berlin, DW correspondent Matthew Moore said the farmers are making their presence felt in the German capital, where tractors are parked in defiance near the Brandenburg Gate.
"They certainly have paralyzed this boulevard," said Moore. "This street beside me is normally bursting with traffic on a Monday morning but at the moment it's choked up with tractors and in the last few minutes we've heard their horns blaring."
"This is just one of hundreds of protests across Germany," said Moore, who explained that protests were expected to continue through the week.
"This is just one of many places where the farmers are getting together to express really deep dissatisfaction with the government here."
Police say hundreds of vehicles on Berlin boulevard
Police in Berlin have given an early indication of the size of the farmers' demonstration along one of Berlin's main thoroughfares.
By 10 a.m. on Monday, police said they had counted 566 tractors, trucks, cars, vans and trailers, with another 550 people on foot on the 17th of June Street, between the Brandenburg Gate and the city's famous Victory Column.
German vice-chancellor says 'structural change' within farming is main issue
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has called for a debate about the agricultural sector in light of the protests.
The Green politician, who is also Germany's vice-chancellor, highlighted his time as an agriculture minister in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Habeck said the real problem for farmers was the economic landscape they were operating in with heavy pressure from discounters, slaughterhouses, and dairies, as well as a fluctuating world market.
"There are good and bad years but, above all, there is a structural problem," Habeck said in a video produced by his ministry.
Farmers were often unable to pass on their production costs because prices were not being set by them. In turn, they were locked into a cycle of having to produce more, and smaller farms were gradually disappearing.
"It's called structural change. I think it's something euphemistic. It is the industrialization of agriculture."
While he said it was understandable that farmers would want to hold on to subsidies without concessions, Habeck stressed there were other answers such as fairer prices, rewards for sustainability, and direct selling to consumers.
"In my opinion, we should use the debate now to seriously and honestly to discuss exactly that," Habeck said.
Habeck and his wife were held up for several hours late on Thursday on their return from a private vacation on an island off Germany's northern coast, as roughly 250 to 300 farmers blockaded the port at which their ferry was docking.
