Police filter Brussels traffic to dilute trucker protests

Belgian police have filtered traffic in and around Brussels during the Monday morning rush hour in an attempt to keep a vehicle protest against coronavirus restrictions in check.

Officers narrowed some highways and imposed go-slow traffic to keep control of what they feared could otherwise turn into a choking demonstration similar to ones carried out by truckers in Canada.

Many trucks are expected from France, where Paris police fired tear gas on Saturday against a handful of demonstrators on the Champs-Elysees Avenue who defied a police order by taking part in a vehicle protest.

A threatened blockade of Paris failed to materialise over the weekend, despite days of online organising efforts.

In the Netherlands, dozens of trucks and other vehicles – ranging from tractors to a car towing a camping van – arrived in The Hague for a similar virus-related protest on Saturday, blocking an entrance to the historic Dutch parliamentary complex.