The brief adventure of the European “freedom convoys”, inspired by the Canadian example, ended abruptly on Monday in Brussels. After demonstrations of force on Saturday in Paris and The Hague, these convoys, mainly composed of motorhomes, vans and cars, converged on Monday in the European capital, where they did not last long.
Contrary to what happened on Saturday, most vehicles were unable to enter the city. From dawn, the E40 motorway from Louvain was blocked, and the vehicles only passed one by one. The plugs caused by the filter dams sometimes totaled several kilometres. In the afternoon, only small groups of no more than 200 people gathered in Place Sainte-Catherine, near the city center, and in Parc du Cinquantenaire, in the European district.
Most of the convoys, which could total more than a thousand vehicles, were intercepted by the police and held up at motorway service areas or escorted to the large Heysel parking lot in the northern suburbs, where demonstrations were allowed, but without moving. No convoy reached the city center. Rue du Trône, a stone’s throw from the Belgian parliament, police were busy towing a car from Slovenia that wore a yellow star, likening the health passport to the Jewish star imposed on Jews before the war.
The disappointment was visible on the faces of the few demonstrators, mostly Belgian or French, who had often left for several days from as far away as Rennes or Marseille. “We, if we are here, it is because we have taken the small departmental roads, the old smuggling routes to avoid checks”, explains Véronique from Valenciennes, a small French town 10 kilometers from Belgium. Social assistance with disabled children, she was put on sick leave by her cardiologist, which allowed her to escape the vaccination obligation.
Her friend Isabelle, a psychiatric nurse, was not so lucky. She has been suspended without pay since September 4 for not being vaccinated. “Fortunately, I have my husband, also a civil servant, who was able to change assignments to work in a sector where vaccination is not compulsory. »
We, if we’re here, it’s because we took the small departmental roads, the old smuggling paths to avoid checks
In the Parc du Cinquantenaire, between the Breton flags and the tricolors embellished with the cross of Lorraine as a sign of resistance, the demonstrators tried to console themselves. Every time a truck honked its horn either out of solidarity or because it fell through the cracks, the crowd cheered. “What do you want, today is Monday, people are working,” said Gérald, a security guard from Namur. Me, I have the chance to work at night. »
Last Friday, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called on protesters to demonstrate at home. “I say to those who come from abroad: look at the rules in Belgium. We’ve never had rules that were too hard and we don’t have that many anymore. So complain at home. »
When, around 3 p.m., the 200 demonstrators gathered in Parc du Cinquantenaire decided to join the group in Place Sainte-Catherine, the police blocked them with tear gas canisters. The metro linking the two groups of demonstrators was interrupted.
“We never wanted to block anything”
For David, an electro-mechanic who came by train from Liège in the morning, this weak mobilization can be explained “because in Belgium people are less rebellious than in France”. His friend Alexandre is especially against the health passport. “Today, we use it to exclude the unvaccinated from social life, but who knows tomorrow what it could be used for. »
It must be said that in Brussels, the epidemic being in clear regression, certain restaurants no longer ask for this passport, which the Belgian authorities pride themselves on calling the CST (Covid Safe Ticket).
“We never wanted to block anything, just demonstrate,” said Guy, who left La Rochelle on Thursday. This former French army sergeant says he is not opposed to vaccines in general. “Besides, I have them all. But I don’t trust those who use the new RNA technology. “Arrived in Brussels on Sunday evening, he was hosted by a Brussels woman called Haneke where he tasted, he says, a delicious pumpkin soup.
While the last demonstrators were still playing cat and mouse with the Brussels police, access to Brussels was reopened at the end of the afternoon. Some demonstrators decided to take the direction of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where a ban on demonstrations was decreed. Guy, however, showed himself to be a philosopher: “If there is no one here, it may be that Europe does not exist. In the meantime, we’re going to eat a fries! »