Hundreds of cars, camper vans and trucks taking part in a Canada-style protest convoy against COVID-19 regulations were yesterday preparing to enter Brussels, where Belgian officials had already banned a demonstration following a weekend attempt in Paris.
About 1,300 vehicles from across France had arrived near the French border town of Lille by late Sunday, police said.
The protest is one of several worldwide inspired by the truckers’ standoff with authorities in Canada.
Photo: Reuters
Camped at a parking lot near Lille, protesters brandished French flags and chanted: “We won’t give up” and “Freedom, freedom.”
“We’ll go to Brussels to try to block it, to fight against this policy of permanent control,” said Jean-Pierre Schmit, an unemployed 58-year-old from Toulouse.
For Sandrine, 45, who traveled from Lyon, the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic had revealed that “we’re losing our freedoms bit by bit, in an insidious way.”
The latest self-proclaimed “freedom convoy” comes after 97 people were arrested at the weekend in Paris, where thousands of demonstrators defied a ban on attempting to blockade the French capital.
In France, the demonstrators took aim at the “vaccine pass” required to enter restaurants, cafes and many other public venues implemented as part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s inoculation drive.
Belgian authorities have banned all demonstrations in the capital with “motorized vehicles” and said that they had taken measures to prevent the blocking of the Brussels region.
Brussels police have posted on social media a warning that vehicle protests are banned and advising against traveling to the capital by vehicle, channeling convoys to a parking lot on the outskirts of the city as the only place where a static protest would be tolerated.
Some participants in a similar demonstration organized in The Hague, Netherlands, have also announced their intention to go to Belgium.
However, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo advised the demonstrators to abandon their plans to travel to Brussels.
“I say to those who come from abroad: look at the rules in Belgium. We never had rules that were too hard and we don’t have so many anymore. So complain at home,” De Croo said on Friday.
Checks are planned at the border and vehicles traveling to the capital despite the ban would be diverted, Belgian authorities said.
Brussels airport yesterday also advised travelers to take precautions and travel by train for fear of blocking access routes.
The self-proclaimed “freedom convoy” is one of several worldwide inspired by a truckers’ standoff with authorities in Canada over vaccine mandates.
While French police counted 3,000 vehicles outside Paris on Friday evening, only about 100 made it to the Champs-Elysees on Saturday, before being forced out after officers deployed tear gas to disperse the protesters.
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