Horns blaring and engines roaring, 100s of tractors bring farmers' plight to an EU summit

Convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors are advancing toward European Union headquarters where leaders are meeting at a summit Thursday

BRUSSELS -- Convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors advanced toward European Union headquarters, bent on getting their complaints about excessive costs, rules and bureaucracy heard by EU leaders at a summit Thursday.

After warming their limbs at burning piles of pallets, the farmers mounted their vehicles and entered the Belgian capital with the rumble of engines, firecrackers and blaring horns piercing the early morning slumber in a culmination of weeks of protests around the bloc.

Even if the EU summit was supposed to be laser-focused on providing Ukraine financial aid for its war against invading Russia, the farmers were likely to squeeze their plight onto the informal agenda of the 27 leaders too.

Even if concrete, immediate concessions were unlikely to emerge, it was not for lack of trying.

Jean-Francois Ricker, a farmer from southern Belgium, braved the winter night close to EU headquarters and said he expected 1,000 to 1,400 vehicles. “There will be a lot of people ... We are going to show that we do not agree and that it is enough, but our aim is not to demolish everything.”