Video shows protesters in Belgium, not farmers celebrating in the Netherlands

^{By Frank Algra-Maschio}

Social media users are falsely claiming that a video shows a huge convoy of tractors taking to the streets of the Netherlands to celebrate the victory of a farmers’ party in regional elections.

The video shows a section of thousands of tractors and farm vehicles that were amassed in a wide city thoroughfare. 

One Facebook user captioned the video beginning with “NETHERLANDS - The Farmers’ Protest party has WON in provincial elections”, going on to state, “This is what the people deciding looks like.”

The posts also tap into conspiracy theories surrounding the World Economic Forum (WEF), with one post stating, “A huge defeat for [Dutch Prime Minister Mark] Rutte & his WEF ideology! He tried to dictate a societal change without asking the people.”

However, these claims are false. The video footage was taken in neighbouring Belgium and shows farmers in tractors blockading central Brussels in a protest opposing plans by the Flanders regional government of Belgium to limit nitrogen emissions in farming.

The posts on Facebook copied or repurposed the material from a tweet by a prominent account on Twitter, which shared the same video.

The Twitter account has more than 200k followers and has been the source of misinformation claims that have spread to Facebook in the past.

The video with the claims stated in the Facebook posts on March 17, were shared two days after the regional elections in the Netherlands. 

However, the user also posted the same video earlier on March 5. The earlier tweet states, “BRUSSELS - Farmers have paralysed the city as thousands of tractors protest about new EU agricultural targets and the forced purchase of farms.”

The March 5 video was taken from another user, who had captioned it “many farmers in Brussels”.

News reports from March 4 confirm the tractors were protesting on the streets of Brussels, against a plan by the regional government of Vlaams (Flanders) to reduce nitrate use in fertilisers and nitrogen emissions from cattle, commonly produced in the intensive dairy farming in the region.

Although the predominant language of the Flanders region is Dutch, Flanders is a self-governing region of Belgium.

The Brussels Times reported that an estimated 27,000 tractors brought city traffic to a standstill by blocking the intersection of Rue de la Loi and Avenue des Arts, which is near the Belgian national parliament and the Vlaams regional parliament, as well as many European Union institutions.

Images of this central Brussels intersection on Google Earth match those found in the video. 

Politico also reported that protesters lit a fire in the street in Rue de la Loi, which can be seen in the video.

News.com.au reported on the protests and included the video from the Twitter account with the caption from the March 5 tweet. 

The offending posts on Facebook have repeated the claims in that tweet, falsely claiming that the video footage is in the Netherlands and shows supporters of the “Farmers Protest party” in the streets following an election.

The elections for the Provincial Councils in the Netherlands were held on March 15, two days before the offending posts on Facebook.

The BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer-Citizen Movement or BBB) party secured almost 20% of the vote across the entire country in those elections.

The BBB was established in 2019 to support farmers and oppose the national government’s plan to cut nitrogen emissions, which will require farms across the country to comply or face closure.

The BBB is now the biggest or equal biggest party in all Dutch provincial councils. As the Provincial Councils select members of the national upper house, the BBB is now expected to hold the most seats in this house.

The policies in Belgium and the Netherlands are in line with European Union requirements for all member countries to reduce nitrate use in fertilisers and nitrogen emissions from dairy production.

Farmers opposed to the changes have turned out in large tractor demonstrations as a form of protest since 2019.