A photo showing tens of tractors blocking a road that traces back to a farmers’ protest in the Netherlands in Dec. 2019 has been recently miscaptioned online, with users claiming it depicts a demonstration against COVID-19 measures in the country.
A tweet with the image from Jan. 31, 2022 ( here ) has garnered over 400 retweets. Iterations on FB of the miscaptioned image can be seen ( here , here )
The image has been shared following the so-called 2022 Freedom Convoy demonstration by Canadian truck drivers protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates and an inoculation requirement for cross-border drivers ( here ).
The same image and description —a text that reads: “Yesterday in Holland-not a word in the media,” — has been shared since at least Dec. 19, 2019 ( here ). A higher quality version, that doesn’t include any superimposed text, was shared on Twitter on Dec. 18, 2019 ( here ).
Reuters could not definitely source the image, but other footage suggests it depicts a demonstration on Dec. 18, 2019 in the Netherlands at a highway towards the German border.
At the time, Reuters reported that several protests over environmental pollution rules took place on that day in the Netherlands on highways, in The Hague, and near a Shell refinery in Rotterdam ( here ).
The green tractors lined up on the right side of the picture ( here ) carry a sign that reads: “No Farms no food”. The phrase “No farmers no food” was used during several of these demonstrations in the country ( here ), ( here ).
A photo viewable on Alamy, from a closer angle, shows a similar alignment of vehicles ( here ). See blue truck with an orange cabin (right side of the image) and green tractors in the middle. The image also shows white foldable tables that can be seen in the aerial picture.
Another picture ( here ) shows a green tractor in front of the blue truck with the orange cabin, also viewable in the aerial picture.
It is not the first time this image has been miscaptioned. The AFP and German fact-checker Correctiv addressed the image in October 2021 ( here ) ( here )
On Jan. 16, 2022 ( here ) Reuters reported that farmers drove to the capital Amsterdam and parked tractors along the Central Museum as part of an anti-coronavirus protest in the country.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. This image shows a farmer’s protest in December 2019 over environmental pollution rules.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.