Protesting farmers spray Brussels police with liquid manure near EU's base in a new display of power
Farmers have clashed with police in Belgium, spraying officers with liquid manure and throwing eggs and flares at them in a fresh show of force as the European Union’s agriculture ministers met in search of ways to address the protesters’ concerns
BRUSSELS — BRUSSELS (AP) — Farmers clashed with police in Belgium on Monday, spraying officers with liquid manure and throwing eggs and flares at them in a fresh show of force as the European Union's agriculture ministers met in search of ways to address the protesters’ concerns.
The farmers are angry at red tape and competition from cheap imports from countries where the EU's relatively high standards do not have to be met.
Brussels police said that 900 tractors had entered the city, many bearing down on the European Council building where the ministers were meeting. Smoke drifted through the air near where police in riot gear sheltered behind concrete barriers and barbed wire, firing tear gas and water cannons at the protesting farmers. Scores of tractors also lined up down main roads leading to the city’s European quarter, snarling traffic and blocking public transport.
A few tractors forced their way through barriers, sending officers scurrying. Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden urged police to identify “rioters” who hurt people or disobeyed instructions from officers.
«The right to protest is dear to us so it must be used with respect,» she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
At the start of the month, a similar demonstration turned violent with farmers torching hay bales and throwing eggs and firecrackers at police near a summit of EU leaders.
Some of the tractors were draped with signs lamenting what farmers see as the slow death of working the land.
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