FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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French ‘Yellow Vest’ Demonstrations Spill Over into Belgium and Bulgaria

Nov. 22, 2018 (EIRNS)—Hundreds of demonstrators, wearing the same yellow highway safety vests that have been a symbol of the French protests, have been blocking motorways in central Belgium, also protesting the “green” fuel price hikes. The demonstrations have been held in the Walloon city of Feluy where Total’s petrochemical plant is located, according to the Belgian daily Dernière Heure (DH), reported Sputnik.

About 400 protesters “were hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at police, and breaking [police] car windows with metal rods,” Sputnik wrote, as well as using lasers to drive away a police helicopter.

Other demonstrators blocked traffic on highways towards Brussels, stopping hundreds of trucks on the Mons-Brussels motorway and at the Belgium-France border crossing. DH reported that police used water cannons to disperse the crowd, and made 30 arrests on charges of “theft, violence-related crimes and the use of weapons,” Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon confirmed on Nov. 22.

In Bulgaria, similar demonstrations against fuel price hikes have been taking place over the past three weeks. On Nov. 19, highways were blocked, causing serious traffic problems in Sofia. The demonstrations also targetted corruption and poverty. One sign read “People against political parties.”