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Police on stand-by as reports suggest Freedom Convoy is heading to Brussels

A screenshot from a Twitter account announcing the arrival in Belgium of Freedom Convoy (Twitter)
08:12 14/02/2022

As so-called ‘Freedom Convoys’ arrived in The Hague in the Netherlands and in Paris over the weekend, Belgian police were on guard from late Sunday to prevent a mass protest taking place in Brussels on Monday.

The authorities had been alerted to plans for a demonstration against the current health restrictions and coronavirus policies involving multiple vehicles arriving in the capital. They have been monitoring traffic at various points on the Belgian border.

According to latest reports, several hundred participants in the convoy, who were gathering in Lille on Sunday evening, began heading towards the Belgian border at around 20.30. It was claimed that the convoy would be entering Belgium in small groups to avoid police attention.

By 22.00 on Sunday, reports suggested that between 50 and 100 cars were already parked on a motorway service area in Hainaut where they were being monitored by police. The objective of the convoy being to overload the main arteries to Brussels at rush hour on Monday morning. While the picture remains unclear, some reports early on Monday suggested that groups of drivers had gathered at various points across Belgium while waiting for a signal to converge on the capital.

The Belgian authorities have announced that they will ban access to the centre of Brussels for these convoys since no authorisation has been given for a demonstration in the Belgian capital. The intention of the police is to direct the demonstrators to the Heysel car park C to prevent the blockade of the capital.

"At the moment we are mainly involved in monitoring along approach roads and major traffic axes towards Brussels,” a spokesperson for the federal police said on Sunday night. “If we encounter drivers who participate in the convoy, we will speak to them and we will inform them of the current rules. The drivers also receive a flyer stating what is allowed and what is not allowed."

"In the first place, we act administratively,” the spokesperson added. “Only in the very last instance and in consultation with the public prosecutor's office, will we act judicially."

Whether the convoy will cause major disruption in Belgium is still unclear. "We are actually constantly monitoring everything and are also in close consultation with the authorities in France,” the police spokesperson added. “Currently, there are individual vehicles entering our country, but certainly not in convoy. Everything seems to be going smoothly now and we hope that it will stay that way."

Written by Nick Amies