Image from Germany falsely linked to farmers' protest in London

What’s being claimed?

An image of people standing next to the tractors lined up on the street is being shared online, claiming that it is from a recent farmers' protest in London. 

An X user shared the image with the caption, “BREAKING: Thousands of tractors are making their way towards London. It's estimated up to 5000 tractors will be showing up today. @UKLabour, it's time to start listening.” The post has garnered over 6,900 likes and 1,400 reposts. A similar image was also shared on Facebook. Archive versions of such posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of the social media posts. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

The image was shared against the backdrop of the farmers' protest held in London on November 19, 2024. Some farmers brought tractors to the protest to demand the scrapping of the inheritance tax introduced in Budget 2024. According to a report by Reuters, the law states that from April 2026, agricultural landowners must pay 20 percent tax if they own land worth over £1 million.

However, the viral image is old and from Germany, indicating that it is unrelated to the recent farmers' protest in London.

Here are the facts

Upon conducting a reverse image search, we found the same image in a Reuters report dated December 18, 2023. The image attributed to Christian Mang, a freelance photographer, was captioned, “People stand beside tractors, as German farmers take part in a protest against the cut of vehicle tax subsidies, near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, December 18, 2023.” 

DW News also reported that in December 2023, German farmers from all over the country brought their tractors to Berlin to protest against the government's decision to scrap the diesel fuel subsidies and no tax breaks for purchasing agricultural and forestry vehicles or machinery.

Further, we observed that the number plates on the tractors are similar to the German license plate pattern, which has the European Union flag and color, city or region name, two alphabets, and two numbers. Meanwhile, U.K. license plates have two letters, two numbers, and three random letters, as seen in the viral image.

Our research confirms that the viral image is from Germany, not from the recent farmers' protest in the U.K.

The verdict

An image of German farmers protesting against a diesel fuel subsidy cut in 2023 has been falsely linked to the November 19 farmers’ protest in London.