Protesting farmers continued to cause problems in large parts of the country on Wednesday, bringing traffic to a standstill on several motorways and closing border crossings.

‘This farmers’ protest is chaotic and untargeted,’ Volkskrant reporter Pieter Hotse Smit said. ‘It is everyone for himself.’

On Tuesday a court in Lelystad banned the farmers from blockading supermarket distribution centres, as had been planned by the most radical farmers’ group, the self-styled Farmers Defence Force.

Nevertheless, groups of farmers from all over the country set up their own protests and have even been joined by farmers from Germany.

Hundreds of farmers on tractors turned up at the NOS television studios in Hilversum, demanding airtime to tell their story.

#Boeren vanuit Hilversum op de #A1 Amsterdam ► Amersfoort veroorzaken nu veel oponthoud tussen Naarden en Amersfoort-Noord. 22 km file. +70 min. pic.twitter.com/vfNRHhYr5q

— ANWBverkeer (@ANWBverkeer) December 18, 2019

At the A7 border with Germany, farmers set up barbecues and closed the crossing for several hours, leading to long queues.

Er wordt volop gekookt op de snelweg. Er zijn hamburgers, er is koffie, heaters om warm te blijven: de boeren hebben het nog prima naar hun zin. #boerenprotest pic.twitter.com/SeUcZ0K226

— Laura Veneman (@laura_veneman) December 18, 2019

In Arnhem the provincial council house was closed on the advice of the police after dozens of farmers on tractors drove onto the Markt main square. Farmers also held a demonstration in the Botlek industrial area in Rotterdam.

Farm minister Carola Schouten described the protests as regrettable. It would be more use to continue to discuss ways of reducing the amount of nitrogen compound pollution caused by farming than taking to the streets, she said.