Farmers clashed with police in Brussels, Belgium on Monday, setting fire to piles of tires in a fresh show of force as European Union agriculture ministers met in search of ways to address the farmers’ concerns.
Brussels police said 900 tractors had entered the city, with many converging on the European Council building where the ministers were meeting.
Smoke drifted through the air near where police in riot gear used water cannons from behind concrete barriers and barbed wire to push farmers back from the EU’s headquarters.
The farmers are protesting EU agricultural policies that pile red tape on farmers, environmental policies that penalize the sector as a source of carbon emissions, and competition from cheap imports brought in from countries where the EU’s high environmental standards do not have to be met.
The protesters lined up scores of tractors down main roads leading to the city’s European quarter, snarling traffic and blocking public transport.
