Two dead on the A59 motorway during the tractor protest

Two people have died and six were injured in a road accident on the A59 motorway near Heesch, in the Netherlands. Four cars were involved in the crash.

The accident happened on the morning of 14 August, while dozens of tractors were driving on the motorways around Den Bosch as part of a farmers' protest. The convoy was heading for the seat of the provincial government of North Brabant, after the province decided to withdraw the licences of five poultry farms.

East Brabant police had decided to intervene only if the agricultural vehicles blocked the carriageway. That decision is now under criticism, along with the presence of tractors on a motorway at all. The prosecution service and local authorities have opened inquiries into how the crash occurred.

The government's response

Prime minister Rob Jetten commented in blunt terms. "This is not a good sign," he said of the farm vehicles on the motorway network. "Protesting on the motorway can have disastrous consequences. It is extremely dangerous, don't do it," he added.

Dutch farmers' protests have gone on for years and stem from policies to cut nitrogen emissions, which have led to the closure or downsizing of many farms. Livestock density per hectare in the Netherlands is among the highest in Europe, and European habitat protection rules require the country to reduce nitrogen deposition around protected natural areas.

Using tractors as a means of pressure has become a constant in other European countries too. What sets the Dutch case apart is the use of the high-speed motorway network, where vehicles travelling at 130 kilometres an hour share the road with far slower farm machinery, a risk earlier incidents had already flagged.