Farmers protesting against low prices - especially in the dairy industry - have clashed with police in Brussels.

The protest, organised by EU farm group Copa Cogeca is being attended by thousands of farmers from across Europe, including delegations from large farm unions including the NFU who are meeting with government ministers today.  

The atmosphere on the street has been described as a “Cross between a carnival and a war-zone” by one British delegate. Frustrated farmers lit fires in the city centre and covered police lines in burning hay as tractors rolled towards the European Commission headquarters on Monday morning.

Police have reportedly deployed water canons as farmers in tractors attempted to break through police lines on Monday mid-morning.  

Twitter user Jacobo de Regoyos uploaded this video at 10.55 AM.

Una amiga nos ha pasado este video a corrspnsles Bruselas sobre la manifestación de agricultores hoy en la capital eu pic.twitter.com/goLy5y2qId

— Jacobo de Regoyos (@JRegoyos) September 7, 2015

Euronews have been covering the events this morning:

Update. 14.30:

According to the NFU, around 70 farmers from the UK have joined thousands of farmers from all over Europe. Presidents of four of Britain’s major farming unions NFU, NFU Scotland, NFU Cymru and Ulster Farmers Union have held separate meetings with ministers ahead of the extraordinary Agriculture Council held in Brussels.

In a joint statement, the presidents of the four unions said, “Right now, today, farmers are really struggling to pay their bills. This is having a huge impact not only on farming families but for other businesses that rely on the farming sector.” The union officials said, “Wide-spread culture change is needed within the food supply chain to ensure that farmers see a fair share of risk and reward.”

Outlining their demands in their statement they have asked that the EU Commission give member state governments more flexibility to ensure BPS and agri-environment payments are delivered in full and on time “at the very least”. They have also demanded a review of intervention for milk prices to help put a floor in the market and a review of market management measures to help farmers get through this short-term crisis.

In their meetings with ministers, the union officials asked Defra secretary Liz Truss and the devolved ministers to push for the European Investment Bank to provide financial support for farmers.

Meanwhile, there have been reports of Dutch police reinforcing local police around the EU parliament and Copa Cogeca has estimated the number of farmers attending protests at 6,000.

Discussing the flaring tensions earlier in the day, Copa secretary general Pekka Pesonen said the scenes illustrate the desperate situation in which farmers have found themselves.