The symbolism that German farmers chose to express their discontent with the government in the first days of the new year was as unambiguous as it was ominous: by the side of rural roads across the country, there were sightings of makeshift gallows dangling traffic-light signs, a reference to the colours of the three governing parties.
An eight-day countrywide protest by agricultural workers, involving motorway blockades and described by the head of the farmers' association as the like of which the country has never experienced before, will go ahead in spite of the government's partial U-turn on the cuts to diesel subsidies and farming vehicle tax breaks that had triggered them.
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