Farmers threw eggs and stones at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday, started fires near the building and set off fireworks as they demanded EU leaders do more to help them with taxes and rising costs.
With thick smoke from burning bales of hay hanging over parts of Belgian capital, security forces used water cannons to douse fires and keep a farmer from felling a tree on the steps of the European Parliament.
Thursday’s are the culmination of weeks of protests around the bloc, whose farmers say it’s becoming harder than ever to make a decent living as energy and fertilizer costs surge because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, more and cheaper farm imports make it hard to compete, and climate change-fueled droughts, floods or fires destroy crops. Farmers are a key electoral group — both at the EU and national levels — and leaders have scrambled to respond to their demands ahead of EU parliamentary elections in June. In recent weeks, populist and hard-right politicians have latched on to the farmers’ plight.
