Chaos in Brussels! Farmers blocked the streets with tractors and set tires on fire on the day of the Agriculture Ministers’ meeting.

Chaos unfolded on Monday in Brussels, where farmers blocked the city center with dozens of tractors and set tires and straw bales on fire.

Law enforcement intervened with water cannons, not far from where EU Agriculture Ministers had convened, Reuters reports.

Farmers set fire to piles of old tires as part of a protest organized to demand action from the EU on a series of issues affecting them, from cheap supermarket prices to the bloc’s free trade agreements, while agriculture ministers gathered to discuss the crisis in the sector.

Over 100 tractors were parked around the headquarters of the European Union institutions, in close proximity to the cordoned-off area where the ministers arrived for the meeting. Police used water cannons to extinguish the flames.

Farmers across Europe have organized weeks of protests to urge policymakers to act on a range of pressures they say are impacting the sector – from cheap supermarket prices to low-priced imports undermining local producers, to strict EU environmental regulations, writes News.ro.

Local grievances vary. But Morgan Ody, general coordinator of the farming organization La Via Campesina, said for most farmers “it’s about income. It’s about being poor and wanting a decent livelihood,” Ody told Reuters.

Ody, herself a farmer from Brittany, France, called on the EU to set minimum support prices and to exit free trade agreements allowing cheaper foreign imports. “We’re not against climate policies. But we know that to make the transition, we need higher prices for products, because it costs more to produce ecologically,” she explained.

Among the demands is the cessation of free trade agreements, which farmers say have led to cheaper imports from countries where producers face less stringent environmental standards than those in the EU.

A banner reading “Stop EU Mercosur” – a reference to ongoing negotiations for a trade deal between the EU and the South American Mercosur group of countries – was displayed at the protest site on Monday.

The European Commission has stated that the conditions allowing the EU to sign the agreement with Mercosur have not been met. It has called for stronger guarantees regarding environmental standards within the agreement.

Agriculture ministers were set to discuss a new set of EU proposals to alleviate pressure on farmers, including reducing agricultural inspections and the possibility of exempting small farms from certain environmental standards. “Farmers must be paid for what they do… There are aspects of the Green Deal demanded of farmers that are not remunerated. That’s the crux of the problem,” said Belgian Agriculture Minister David Clarinval, referring to the EU’s environmental requirements.

In response to weeks of protests by angry farmers, the EU has already weakened some parts of its flagship environmental policies under the Green Deal. The EU removed from its climate roadmap until 2040 an emissions reduction target in agriculture. It also withdrew a law on reducing pesticides and postponed an objective for farmers to leave some land fallow to improve biodiversity.