50 tonnes of waste cleared from Brussels streets after farmers’ Mercosur protest
More than 50 tonnes of waste had to be cleaned up after Thursday’s farmers’ protest in Brussels, which saw several hundred tractors gather in the streets of the capital. Teams from the regional cleaning agency Bruxelles-Propreté worked until 23:00 to clear the rubbish, a spokesperson said.
Faced with the scale of the mess, the agency put in place special measures and monitored events from the regional crisis centre. The first clean-up operations began on Thursday and continued as protesters gradually dispersed.
Operations focused on the routes taken by the tractors that converged on Place du Luxembourg, in particular the Petite Ceinture, Avenue de la Couronne and Avenue Paul Hymans.
Teams were faced with burnt bins and tyres and large quantities of potatoes, beetroot and wet straw on the road, making some roads particularly slippery.
Police made six administrative arrests and seven judicial arrests. Four officers were injured during the protest. “The material damage is enormous,” a spokesperson for Brussels Capital/Ixelles police said.
“A dozen gas masks and one helmet were destroyed, and dozens of uniforms, shields and helmets were defaced and soiled. A service vehicle was also damaged after being hit by a tractor.” The damage to the barriers used, which were hit by tractors, has yet to be assessed.
Other damage is still being evaluated, including broken or removed traffic signs, broken windows and road surfaces damaged by fires.
The protest coincided with the first day of a two-day EU summit in Brussels. Farmers gathered in the capital to protest against the EU’s agriculture policy, and in particular the proposed free trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. European farmers fear unfair competition if the agreement is signed.
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had been due to travel to Brazil this weekend to sign the deal, which has been some 25 years in the making and would be the EU's largest in terms of tariff cuts However, EU leaders agreed on Thursday to postpone signing until January.
Both France and Italy had requested a postponement. Following the summit, French president Emmanuel Macron said it was too early to say whether his country would be able to approve the agreement in January.
A farmer sits next to a pile of potatoes near the European Parliament at Place du Luxembourg, Brussels, 18 December 2025 © PHOTO NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
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