Hundreds of vehicles participating in the anti-vaccine pass convoys, many of them from France, were preparing on Monday February 14 to head for Brussels, despite the ban, to protest at European level after a first attempt in Paris.

The Belgian authorities reminded the participants of the convoys on Sunday that it was forbidden to demonstrate on Monday in the capital.

This did not prevent around 1,300 vehicles, according to the French police, from stopping in the evening near Lille, not far from the border.

Arrived in a concert of horns, in a parking lot ten kilometers from the metropolis of northern France, the participants demonstrated there in the evening to cries of "We don't let go", "Freedom freedom", brandishing many French flags.

“We will go to Brussels to try to block, to fight against this policy of permanent control”, affirmed to AFP Jean-Pierre Schmit, a 58-year-old unemployed man from Toulouse (south-west) who demonstrated on Saturday in Paris.

"The program is little by little going to see all the European institutions (...), we don't know how far we are going to go but we are moving forward and making our voices heard", explained to AFP Sandrine, a 45-year-old production manager from Lyon (center-east) and refusing, like many, to give her name.

"Prevent Blocking"

The Belgian authorities have banned all demonstrations in the capital "with motorized vehicles" and announced that they have taken measures "to prevent the blocking of the Brussels-Capital region".

The Brussels police have posted instructions on social networks in four languages ​​- French, Dutch, German and English: ban on demonstrating with vehicles, advice not to go to Brussels by car, channeling of convoys in a parking lot from the exhibition center, on the outskirts of the city, "the only place where static action will be tolerated".

Some participants in a similar demonstration organized in The Hague also announced their intention to travel to Belgium.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo had however advised the demonstrators on Friday to give up coming to Brussels.

"I say to those who come from abroad: look at the rules in Belgium. We never had rules that were too hard and we don't have so many anymore. So complain at home," he said. spear.

Checks are planned at the border and vehicles coming to the capital despite the ban will be diverted, warned the Belgian authorities.

Brussels airport advised travelers to take precautions on Monday and come by train for fear of blocking access routes.

With AFP

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