Fuel tax protesters block Brussels streets
Scores of Belgian protesters wearing the yellow vests that have become a symbol of anti-tax demonstrators in neighboring France blocked a key road junction in central Brussels on Friday, calling on the government to resign.
Police closed several key access tunnels to the city center, causing jams but avoiding a build-up of stalled traffic around the protest. Police said they had received no official request to hold such demonstration, Reuters reported.
Belgian police fired water-cannon and teargas in central Brussels on Friday to drive back protesters. Plainclothes officers monitored the protest as people sporting the fluorescent yellow safety vests that Belgian drivers must carry in their vehicles chanted complaints about fuel costs and a ruling coalition which they say is placing an undue burden on struggling lowpaid households.
For nearly three hours, crowds of people complaining about fuel prices and a squeeze on living standards had disrupted traffic and walked the streets in an unauthorized demonstration that lacked clear leadership, largely promoted via social media.
Protests in Belgium, notably around fuel depots in the French-speaking south, have been inspired by the yellow vest — or “gilet jaune” — actions in France against increases in fuel duty imposed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government as part of efforts to reduce emissions causing global warming.
“Michel, resign!” people chanted on Friday at the Artsloi intersection, close to the office of liberal Prime Minister Charles Michel. He voiced sympathy for people’s difficulties on Thursday, but added: “Money doesn’t fall from the sky.”
His center-right coalition faces an election in May.