A protest in Austria on Saturday against noise and pollution blocked one of Europe's most important highways connecting Germany and Italy but early reports showed traffic disruptions were not as bad as feared.
The Brenner Pass links northern and southern Europe, with the Austrian stretch providing trans-Alpine access into Italy.
Communities in Austria's western Tyrol province have long complained about traffic on the route, especially trucks passing through the province.
Several thousand protesters gathered on a stretch of the road at Matrei am Brenner on Saturday, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
"We want to send a message to Brussels, to the federal government in Vienna, that things absolutely cannot and must not continue like this with the constantly increasing traffic here," organiser Karl Muehlsteiger told AFP ahead of the protest.
