Police and protesters clash in Brussels as anti-austerity rally disrupts city
- On Friday, approximately 30,000 people joined a national strike in Brussels organized by Belgian trade unions opposing government budget cuts aimed at saving €10 billion.
- Led by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, the government seeks the cuts to reduce the country's high public deficit, while unions demand tax increases on the highest earners instead of service cuts.
- Masked youths clashed with police near Brussels Central Station, throwing rocks and fireworks while setting fires to public property, prompting officers to deploy water cannons and tear gas.
- Police detained 21 individuals, including 13 minors, following the disturbances, as union head Bert Engelaar publicly distanced organized labor, stating rioters had "nothing to do with the message" of the rally.
- These disturbances follow a week of violent protests in Liège resulting in more than 200 arrests, reflecting a broader wave of European unrest over education funding and living costs.
184 Articles
184 Articles
The ranks of the demonstrators were inflated this Friday by high school students denouncing the budget cuts that hit education in French-speaking Belgium.
Tens of thousands of people protested on Friday in Brussels against rising cost of living and budget measures planned by the government.
Barricades in flames, throws of stones and tear gas in the centre of Brussels, where thousands of people protested against the budget cuts announced by the federal government. The clashes broke out on the edge of the march of unions and students and continued in front of the Gare du Midi. A group of protesters, in part with the face covered, threw stones and other objects against the police, who responded with hydrants and tear gas. The main tra…
Students in Belgium are also protesting government cuts of more than €10 billion in education.
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