Farmers spray liquid manure on police as clashes break out in Brussels

Protesting farmers in Belgium have sprayed police officers with liquid manure and set fire to piles of tyres, as clashes over European Union policies continue.

Brussels police said 900 tractors had entered the city on Monday, many bearing down on the European Council building where European Union ministers were meeting.

Photos showed a jet of brown liquid - said to be manure - being fired at officers from a cylinder on the back of a lorry.

The liquid could be seen splashed on shields carried by police officers.

The farmers are angry at red tape and competition from cheap imports from countries where the EU’s relatively high standards do not have to be met.

In Brussels on Monday, farmers lined up scores of tractors down main roads leading to the city's European quarter, halting traffic and blocking public transport.

Police in riot gear used water cannons to defend the EU’s headquarters, from behind concrete barriers and barbed wire.

Several tractors forced their way through one barrier, sending officers dashing for cover.

The protest is the latest in a series of rallies and demonstrations by farmers across Europe.

At the start of this month, a similar demonstration turned violent as farmers set fire to hay bales and threw eggs at police near a summit of EU leaders.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted with boos and whistles at the opening of the Paris Agricultural Fair by farmers who claim that he is not doing enough to support them.

Spain, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have also been hit by protests in recent weeks.

The movement has gathered pace as political parties campaign for Europe-wide elections, due to take place from June 6 to 9.

"We are getting ignored," said Marieke Van De Vivere, a farmer from the Ghent region in northern Belgium.

She invited the ministers "to be reasonable to us, to come with us on a day to work on the field, or with the horses or with the animals, to see that it is not very easy...because of the rules they put on us".

On the other side of the barriers in Brussels, ministers were keen to show they are listening.

The EU presidency, currently held by Belgium, acknowledged that the farmers' concerns include the burden of respecting environmental policies, a drop in assistance from the bloc's agricultural subsidy system and the impact of Russia's attacks on Ukraine's grain supplies.

"We hear, clearly, their complaints," said David Clarinval, Belgium's agriculture minister. But he urged protesters to refrain from violence.

"We can understand that some are in difficult circumstances, but aggression has never been a source for solutions,” he said.

The protests have already had results. Earlier this month, the EU's executive branch shelved an anti-pesticide proposal in a concession to the farmers, which make up an important voting constituency.

French agriculture minister Marc Fesneau told the few reporters on Monday: "There's a need to send signals immediately to tell farmers that something is changing, not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long-term".

Irish agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue said the priority must be to slash administrative red tape.

The EU should ensure that policies are "straightforward, that they're proportionate and they're as simple as possible for farmers to implement", he said.

Mr McConalogue underlined that "we do respect the massively important work that farmers carry out every day in terms of producing food".