Belgium bans freedom convoy protest planned for next week

Belgium has banned a "freedom convoy" protest planned for Feb. 14 in the capital Brussels, authorities said Thursday, reported Xinhua.

"The Federal Police will check the motorized vehicles on the main axes towards Brussels who come to demonstrate in Belgium. The Region and the City of Brussels will issue orders prohibiting demonstrations with trucks on their territory," read a press release published by the office of Rudi Vervoort, minister-president of the Brussels-Capital Region.

Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, Vervoort, and Philippe Close, the mayor of Brussels, have said they are ready to deploy federal, regional and local resources to prevent a blockade in Brussels.

The first "freedom convoy" was organized in Ottawa in Canada, with truckers blocking the streets of the capital for over a week. They have been protesting mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for people wishing to cross the border to the U.S.

Inspired by the Canadian Freedom Convoy, the European movement is preparing to send convoys to various European capitals, including Paris during this weekend and Brussels, on Feb. 14.