Furious fishermen clash with police over fuel prices
EU Commission accused of doing nothing to cut high cost of marine diesel
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FRENCH and Italian fishermen clashed with riot police in Brussels yesterday in the latest protest over fuel prices.
The streets of the city’s EU HQ district were filled with smoke as some of the 200 demonstrators fired marine flares, smashing some windows in surrounding European Commission buildings.
Some fishermen vented their anger over what they see as inaction on the high cost of marine diesel by overturning a car near the EU HQ.
The vehicle turned out to belong to a local cleaning woman rather than a Eurocrat.
Police had sealed off dozens of streets in anticipation of trouble. But violence only flared when police launched a baton charge to counter the danger from the flares.
Yesterday’s protest follows weeks of demonstrations at fishing ports throughout Europe as frustrated trawlermen wage a campaign to cut fuel costs and increase their limited EU fishing quotas.
The timing of yesterday’s protests was ill-judged, however. The target of their frustration, EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, was out of town, attending a conference in Latvia. He has already ruled out any fuel subsidies to the fishing industry. He added insult to injury last week by warning of even tougher limits on quotas ahead.
The fishing protests began in France but have spread to Italy, Spain and Belgium. The anger is unlikely to be eased by the commission’s stance.
Euro MPs have promised to hold talks on high fuel prices, and an EU summit in Brussels this month will also consider how to ease the financial pressure on all industrial sectors from the economic downturn and the rocketing price of oil.
By the evening, police had removed the barricades as traffic returned to the EU district and the fishermen dispersed — no closer to resolving their problems over high fuel costs and low fish catches.
