Rail sabotage: farm activists suspected as police investigate

Police and the security service AIVD are investigating the widespread sabotage on train tracks throughout the centre and east of the Netherlands on Tuesday, which brought train services to a standstill for much of the day, amid reports that radical farmers’ protest groups were responsible.

Further disruptions on Tuesday evening continued after certain tracks, that had already been cleared, were again targeted, according to infrastructure company ProRail.

Sources told broadcaster NOS they had seen farmer groups discussing taking direct action on Prinsjesdag, including by fixing metal pipes to train lines. Doing this fools the system into thinking a train is already on the track and turns signals red.

A photo of a pipe fixed to a rail also circulated in online farmers’ groups, although it is not clear who took it or where, NOS reported. No arrests have been made and no group has claimed responsibility so far.

Justice minister David van Weel pledged to catch the culprits on Wednesday morning.

Farmers’ organisations have condemned the actions and said they had nothing to do with it. The Farmers Defence Force, responsible for recent motorway disruptions, said it was not responsible but that “wild actions” by individual farmers were expected on budget day in reaction to the government plans on nitrogen and livestock numbers.

Farming lobby LTO Nederland said the actions crossed a line. “Sabotage has nothing to do with the right to protest,” a spokesman told NOS. “Whoever is behind this should ask themselves seriously what interest is served by it.”

Farm protesters also set hay bales, tyres and pallets alight beside motorways including the A2 and A28, and police arrested 7 people near Breukelen. It is not known whether the same people were involved in the rail sabotage.

Police and intelligence officials have not yet commented on who they suspect is behind the actions, but sources did confirm to NOS that farmer protest groups were one scenario being considered.

Prime minister Rob Jetten said what happened went beyond all limits and created dangerous situations.

The disruptions coincided with Prinsjesdag, the state opening of parliament in the The Hague and the annual budget announcements.

Bart Schuurman, professor of terrorism and political violence at Leiden University, told NOS he expects public prosecutors to pursue serious charges. Deliberately endangering rail traffic carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, and potentially more if a court finds a terrorist motive. “Even if they were not consciously out to kill or injure anyone, they took the risk that trains would derail or collide,” he said.