Brussels/Paris/Washington (Reuters) – Paris and Brussels are banning truck drivers and car drivers demonstrating against Corona regulations from the city.
The police in the French capital announced on Thursday that the protest drive, dubbed the “freedom convoy”, would be stopped in front of the city limits. According to the authorities, anyone who violates the access ban risks two years in prison, a fine of 4,500 euros and the withdrawal of a driver’s license. The Brussels administration announced that the police would control the access roads to the Belgian capital. Drivers want to gather at the EU headquarters there and in Paris to demonstrate for the lifting of corona restrictions. The numerous truck drivers who have been blocking the center of the Canadian capital Ottawa for around two weeks are a role model.
The first drivers started in the south of France on Wednesday, and others from various cities in France were to follow on Thursday. The prefecture of Paris said that in order not to endanger public order, the protesting motorists would be denied access from Friday to Monday. The protest convoy is expected in Brussels on Monday. The administration of the Brussels region said that truck demonstrations would be prohibited by decree. So far, no demonstration has been registered.
The protests by Canadian truck drivers have obstructed traffic on a central bridge on the US border that leads to the car metropolis of Detroit. There are delivery bottlenecks that are already affecting production at Ford and Toyota. On Thursday, GM announced that two production shifts at its Lansing, Michigan plant had to be canceled as a result of the trucker protests in Canada. GM builds SUVs there.
According to the broadcaster CNN, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that protests by truck drivers against vaccination regulations would be planned in several metropolitan areas. A ministry bulletin to US authorities said the convoy is expected to begin in California in mid-February and arrive in Washington in mid-March. There are also replicas of the rallies in Canada in Australia and New Zealand.