They should arrive on Monday, but are not welcome. The Belgian authorities announced, Thursday, February 10, to prohibit access to Brussels of the “freedom convoy”. The protest movement initiated in Canada by truck drivers in opposition to health measures put in place by the State to stem the Covid-19 epidemic, is spreading in Europe, several groups calling in particular on social networks to converge on the city.
“Means are put in place to prevent the blocking of the Brussels-Capital Region”said the mayor of the Belgian capital, Philippe Close, who spoke on Twitter, shortly after the announcement of similar measures in Paris.
With @AnneliesVl and @rudivervoortwe have taken the decision to ban the “Freedom Convoy” which has not been authorized to demonstrate because no request has been sent.
Means are put in place to prevent the blocking of the Brussels-Capital Region— Philippe Close (@PhilippeClose) February 10, 2022
The city councilor clarified that no request for authorization to demonstrate had been sent to the authorities.
This decision was taken in consultation with the regional executive and the Belgian Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, who has authority over the federal police, which will be responsible for controlling trucks and cars coming from abroad at the Belgian border. who would like to join Brussels. Furthermore, “orders prohibiting demonstrations with motorized vehicles” will be taken at the level of the region and the city of Brussels, according to a press release from the president of the regional executive, Rudi Vervoort.
The measure is also aimed at potential Belgian demonstrators or already on Belgian soil. Their vehicles approaching the capital will be diverted by the police “to Parking C”, a large parking area near the Heysel plateau, in the north of the conurbation.
In France, several processions of this movement, which its organizers define as “the next step” of the anti-government mobilization of “yellow vests” and opponents of the health pass, left on Wednesday from several cities in the South (Nice, Bayonne, Perpignan). In view of this gathering, expected Friday in Paris, the prefect of police of the French capital announced Thursday morning prohibition measures, for “risks of disturbances to public order”, as well as the establishment of a “specific device (…) to prevent the blocking of roads, verbalize and challenge offenders”.