Europe: farmers and their tractors take over Brussels during the European Council summit

Tensions are rising and the bet of European farmers' has reached the headquarters of the institutions of the European Union (EU). The protests of the agricultural industry are becoming international and are being repeated in several other European countries in addition to France. This Thursday it was Brussels' turn, where the European Council summit meets with the 27 EU leaders. There, farmers on the warpath with their tractors also attended the meeting.

Local media reported early in the morning the arrival of several convoys of tractors that circulated from the outskirts of the Belgian capital until they entered the city and took up positions in Luxembourg Square, in front of the European Parliament. The farmers did not choose their target by chance. The European institutions and their ecological and agricultural policies are at the center of the problems for the agricultural sector.

Data from the Belgian Police collected by AFP assure that around 1,000 tractors and other agricultural vehicles have taken to the streets of the city. According to local media reports and as could be seen in images, farmers clashed with law enforcement in Luxembourg Square, in front of Parliament. There the protesters threw eggs at the buildings and charged against the police barricade. They also demolished and burned the statue that presides over the square from its center. Police responded with water hoses and pepper spray while maintaining their position at the entrances to Parliament.

Paris remains under siege

The protests in Brussels did not reduce the tension on the roads leading to Paris. French farmers set up shop on the roads around the capital and blocked at least a dozen roads leading into and out of Paris this Thursday. The first objective of the farmers was to block the Rungis food market, which was protected by a strong deployment of law enforcement. This Thursday, the coordinators have made a call to proceed to the National Assembly.

In the province, many other convoys of tractors also block roads and block the entry of trucks with agricultural products coming from abroad. However, law enforcement forces prevent them from advancing or break up the blockades. Throughout Wednesday, the French gendarmerie arrested 116 protesting farmers, according to Le Figaro. In some provincial cities there were also new episodes of protests. In Clermont-Ferrand, for example, farmers dumped tons of stinking agricultural fertilizer on the streets of the city center.