Farmers in Brussels breaking through barricades, water cannons activated

(Patria) - Concrete barriers and barbed wire. This is the image of the center of the European Union as farmers, angry at bureaucracy and competition from cheap imports, demonstrate with tractors they brought to the center of Brussels while the ministers of agriculture of the Union meet.

Police in riot gear patrolled near the barricades set up at the main entrance points to the European Council building, where the agriculture ministers of the 27-member bloc gathered. Dozens of tractors adorned with flags and banners were lined up in columns and blocked city traffic.

Some lamented what they see as the slow death of farming. "Agriculture. As a child you dream about it, as an adult you die from it," said one of the demonstrators.

Tires were also set on fire. Farmers left a trailer full of tires a few hundred meters from the European Council building, and the police brought water cannons.

Several tractors broke through one barrier, sending police officers fleeing.

Police used water cannons against the farmers.