Protesters Destroy GM Belgium Field Trial

Video shows a montage of similar events that take place in Europe.

Photo courtesy: foodfirst.org

(WETTEREN, Belgium) - Belgian Field Liberation Movement (FLM) announced a peaceful protest to publicly remove GM potatoes and replant non-GM blight resistant potatoes.

Police were waiting in advance but couldn’t contain the several hundred member diverse group who arrived, climbed the fence, and began uprooting the plants. Around 40 people were arrested.

The video below shows a montage of similar events that take place in Europe.

Protesters destroy controversial field trial

May 29, 2011

Protesters have destroyed a controversial GM field trial in Belgium.

In Wetteren, a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders, activists succeeded in damaging the GM potatoes being trialled for blight resistance, despite a large contingent of police officers who had been ordered to guard the GM trial. The officers were unable to stop the 300-400 or more peaceful protesters of all ages, who included local people.

During the protest organized by the Belgian Field Liberation Movement (FLM) – an informal collective consisting of farmers, scientists, consumers, and environmental activists, protesters climbed over a high fence and pulled up GM potato plants. The trial was also allegedly sprayed with herbicide. Some 40 people were arrested.

The non-violent direct action had been announced in advance with the FLM saying they planned to remove the GM potatoes and replant the field with non-GM blight resistant potatoes in a peaceful and public manner.

A sympathetic farmer was quoted as saying, “They [the GM lobby] talk a lot about farmers, but we are never heard. This type of action strengthens us and seems like the only way forward for consumers and small producers who are independent of powerful interest groups like big agribusiness.”

European protests against genetically modified crops.

Source: foodfirst.org