How inconsistent the authorities are at times when it comes to violating the law Farmers protests The results of two motorway blockades in Lower Saxony in 2023/24 show: A good 80 percent of the approximately 140 investigations into the demonstrations on the A 2 on December 18, 2023 and January 8, 2024 with a total of around 140 accused were closed without sanction. This emerges from figures that the responsible public prosecutor’s office in Bückeburg has now shared with the taz.
The investigators were unable to prove who drove the tractors onto the highway “as there are neither sufficient video recordings nor personal identification,” said a spokesman for the authority. The quality of the images taken by the police from the crime scene was too poor to identify the drivers. The emergency services apparently did not take down their personal details.
Although both demonstrations were not registered with the authorities, contrary to Lower Saxony’s assembly law, no administrative offense proceedings were initiated, according to the Hanover Police Department. Reason: No one identified themselves as the meeting leader on site. The Schaumburger Zeitung but explicitly named the farmer and influencer Christian Beißner as the organizer of the blockade in December 2023. The taz now answered Beißner when asked whether he had organized the demo: “I did. I was already in charge.”
Of all people, the public prosecutor’s office only investigated the most famous participant in the action on January 8, 2024, the right-wing populist YouTuber, politician and then spokesman for the farmers’ association Agriculture Connects Germany (LSV Germany) Anthony Lee, after the taz explicitly asked about it in June 2025. Lee’s participation in the campaign became known nationwide because he made the absurd claim in a video interview with the Dutch influencer Eva Vlaardingerbroek on the highway that Politicians wanted to take away farmers’ land in favor of refugees. According to the information, the case against him is still ongoing – more than two years later. Lee left taz’s requests for comment unanswered by the time of going to press.
Danger of accidents on the highway
The authorities’ actions appear particularly cautious in view of the police’s sometimes even violent response to blockades of urban streets by the climate protection group “Last Generation”. In addition, the farmers’ actions were risky: The highway blockade with tractors and vans on January 8, 2024, for example, took place in the dark and on a “curvy and hilly” section of the A 2 near the Bad Eilsen and Rehren junctions, said the spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office.
This “created a particular danger for the road users behind”. A few days later there was actually a fatal accident due to a farmers’ protest on a highway: one died on January 10, 2024 Truck driverafter he drove his truck into the end of the traffic jam caused by the action on the A 66 near Fulda.
The demonstration on January 8th in Lower Saxony hindered many bystanders. According to the public prosecutor’s office, there was a backlog of 18 kilometers in the morning rush hour towards Berlin and 16 kilometers in the opposite direction. “Several thousand vehicles belonging to uninvolved citizens” were stuck there.
More than four hours of traffic jams
Traffic only started flowing again after four and a half hours. The participants held an “unauthorized meeting against the federal government’s agricultural policy at the time” on the highway. While climate activists blocked cars because road traffic is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases, the connection between agricultural policy and highways remained unclear.
“As far as the driver’s status could be proven and the accused showed understanding, the proceedings were discontinued against a fine of 300 euros.” This only applies to 8 procedures. “In around 19 cases, an application was made for the issuance of a criminal order for communal coercion,” added the public prosecutor. According to a justice spokeswoman, the Bückeburg district court ended 17 of these proceedings against a fine of an average of 370 euros. According to him and the public prosecutor, the case against Christian Beißner was also discontinued for an unspecified amount of money.
Lee referred to such consequences in a May 2025 video as “impertinence“The accused were only demonstrating “so that you can still produce food in Germany”. In reality, the farmers’ protests at the time were primarily about maintaining the subsidy for tractor diesel, against environmental regulations and the traffic light coalition. “And nothing happened,” added Beißner.
Lee spoke of “our demo”. “We will complain until the end of the day,” he announced. Lee and Beißner also called for donations for this purpose, which they said they had already received in mid-July 2025 60.000 Euro together. But the money has not yet been completely spent, Beißner now told the taz. “There are still a lot of cases going on,” he claimed.