Brussels BANS Canada-style Freedom Convoy Protest

A placard that reads, ' We are liberty' is held out of a car window as the "Convoi de La L
GAIZKA IROZ/AFP via Getty Images
Peter Caddle

Brussels — the heartland of the administrative elements of the European Union — has banned a Canada-style Freedom Convoy from entering the city this weekend.

Authorities in Brussels have banned a forthcoming Freedom Convoy protest from taking place in the city, fearing that such a demonstration would paralyse the European metropolis.

It comes shortly after Parisian officials announced that they would bar the convoy’s entry to the French capital over “risks of trouble to public order”.

According to a report by Politico, Brussels appears to have taken a similar approach to the convoy due to the fact protesters haven’t been following the Belgian capital’s bureaucratic rules.

“We have taken the decision to ban the “Freedom Convoy” which has not been authorized to demonstrate because no request has been sent [for a protest permit],” the city’s mayor, Philippe Close, wrote online.

The mayor also noted that the decision was made by him, alongside the Belgian Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, and Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Rudi Vervoort.

“The Federal Police will check the motorized vehicles on the main [routes] towards Brussels who come to demonstrate in Belgium,” read a statement on the matter posted on Vervoort’s website. “The Region and the City of Brussels will take orders prohibiting demonstrations with trucks on their territory.”

Authorities in France had already announced a similar measure earlier today, saying that truckers looking to protest the Chinese Coronavirus will be blocked from entering the city between February 11-14.

Police in the country have also warned that anyone looking to join demonstrations may face a two-year prison sentence, fines, and a three-year ban on driving.

Despite this sabre-rattling, protesters are reportedly planning to continue their journey to the French capital with the hopes of forcing a confrontation with authorities.

While European nations look to try and lockout Freedom Convoy protesters from their cities, countries outside the continent are also clamping down hard on those looking to fight harsh lockdown restrictions.

An estimated 120 people have been arrested in New Zealand for protesting anti-Chinese Coronavirus measures in place in the country, with police claiming they were trespassing.

 

This is despite the fact that location where protesters had gathered — a lawn outside the nation’s parliament —  is often used for demonstrations without issue.

One video from the protest appears to show law enforcement officers dragging a naked woman by her hair along the ground, before taking her into custody.

Meanwhile, in Canada, police have attempted to cut off the fuel supply for truckers in order to prevent them from powering their heaters.

This strategy is being implemented by officers as Ottowa — the Canadian capital — faces night temperatures well below the point of freezing.

However, this strategy has prompted sympathetic Canadians to deliver fuel to truckers by hand, despite offering the truckers any supplies being declared illegal by authorities.

As this drama continues to play out on the streets of the Canadian capital, the nation’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has found himself heckled by MPs in parliament over his refusal to loosen lockdown rules.

“Countries like Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Czech Republic, the UK, Spain, Denmark– they’re all removing restrictions and mandates,” the Canadian Conservative Party leader of the opposition, Candice Bergen, told parliament. “…We have a pime minister who refuses to lead and instead is being divisive.”

“Canadians want their lives back,” the opposition leader continued.

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