Clashes in Brussels over Covid rules

People take part in a demonstration against the Belgian government’s restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Brussels yesterday. (Reuters)

Police fired water cannon and tear gas yesterday at stone-throwing protesters after tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through Brussels against Covid-19 rules.Authorities estimated that around 50,000 people paraded through the Belgian capital — the largest in a spate of protests in the city over the past months.Clashes broke out close to the headquarters of the European Union as police used water cannon and tear gas to push back protesters hurling paving stones and firecrackers.News outlet RTL reported that masked demonstrators had smashed a glass entrance to the office of the EU’s foreign policy agency. The protest comes as the Omicron wave causes infections to reach record highs across Europe.Protesters carried signs slamming Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and the Covid Safe pass required for entry into numerous venues.Organisers including the World Wide Demonstration for Freedom and Europeans United for Freedom had called for people to come from other EU states. Flags from Poland, The Netherlands, France and Romania could be seen in the crowd.“What has been happening since 2020 has allowed people to wake up to corruption,” said Francesca Fanara, who had travelled from Lille in northern France,“I have come to march together.”“It’s a health dictatorship,” said Adolfo Barbosa from Portugal. “It warms the heart to see these people here.”The EU’s health agency said on Friday that Omicron had now become the dominant variant circulating in the bloc and some neighbouring countries.Belgium has seen daily infections surge to over 60,000 in the past week in what authorities have called a “tsunami”.