An image shared on Facebook allegedly shows a 2022 protest in the Netherlands that involved several tractors blocking traffic.

Verdict: Misleading

The image is from a 2019 protest against environmental regulations. The image is not connected to any anti-vaccine mandate protest.

Fact Check:

Several organized demonstrations have taken place in the Netherlands in 2022, with at least one being broken up by police with riot shields and batons, according to Reuters. Two of these protests were in opposition to the country’s stringent COVID-19 regulations and vaccination campaign.

Now, an image being shared on social media allegedly shows another protest that recently occurred in the country, this one involving tractors blocking traffic on the highway. “Yesterday in Holland – not a word in the media,” reads text included in one version of the image shared on Facebook Jan. 31. Another iteration shared on Twitter received over 400 retweets and 900 likes.

The image is not from 2022. A reverse image search revealed it first appeared in December 2019, two months before the Netherlands reported its first COVID-19 case and well before any subsequent protests against pandemic-related restrictions. A post featuring the picture was uploaded to Twitter Dec. 18, 2019.

Гаага сегодня
Как пел незабвенный Боб Марли:
noооо farmers , noоооо food! pic.twitter.com/ou0Lltyl3g

— Да Бро (@strim2707) December 18, 2019

“The Hague today As the unforgettable Bob Marley sang: noooo farmers, nooooo food!” reads the translated tweet. (RELATED: Did Stacey Abrams Say, ‘We Don’t Need Farmers, When We Have Grocery Stores’?)

The image was also shared in a December 2019 article from the German newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten about Dutch farmers protesting the country’s environmental regulations. The photo is attributed to the group “Land Creates Connection,” which is an interest group for farmers, according to fact-checking website AFP. The chairman of the group told the outlet the image was taken by “Dutch colleagues.”

Dutch farmers blocked highways and roads in protest of environmental rules put forth by the European Union in December 2019, according to Reuters. A popular slogan from the protest was “no farmers, no food,” the outlet reported.