Brussels police officers were sprayed with manure by angry farmers who used their tractors to storm cordons in a protest over the European Union’s green deal.
Demonstrators hauled barbed-wire fences to the side of the road to create room for the agricultural vehicles to barge through the barricades.
Footage of one of the incidents showed a handful of police officers, wearing full riot gear, failing to stop the farmers as they approached a meeting of EU agricultural ministers nearby.
Baton-wielding police were doused in manure from one truck which blockaded a road in the city.
The police were left with no option but to retreat.
Local media also reported seeing farmers hurling oranges and fire crackers at the police barricades.
Water cannons were deployed to douse the flames from mounds of burning tyres and hay bales strewn across the Rue de la Loi, a four-lane highway that runs parallel to the European Council’s headquarters.
Protests cross the continent
“There is indeed an ongoing intervention on rue de la Loi, at Rue du Taciturne, where farmers have set fire to tires. Two sprinklers are on site to try to extinguish the fireplace,” Brussels police said in a statement.
The authorities counted more than 300 tractors pouring into the Belgian capital’s European quarter early on Monday while the ministers held their talks.
Farmer protests have erupted across the continent, including in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy and Spain, over the impact of EU environmental laws, as well as tariff-free imports from Ukraine.
Many farmers argue their traditional, rural ways of life are being destroyed by liberal and metropolitan politicians living in the cities.
Officers closed access to Schuman Square, which is at the heart of Brussels’ European district, after farmers used a cycle lane to get around the barricades set up to keep them away.
A nearby metro station was also closed.
European officials said they were in negotiation with the law enforcers to keep access open to the EU’s buildings.
Traffic ground to a halt with all the major road access points towards the centre being snarled up by the protesters.
Away from the European district, several tractors, blaring their horns, drove into the historic centre and the iconic Grand Place.