Tens of thousands of people marched through Brussels on Friday against the Belgian government’s austerity plans. The union-led march was peaceful, police said, but smaller groups clashed with officers, who used tear gas and water cannon.
Clashes broke out in Brussels on Friday, October 9, on the sidelines of a mass demonstration against the Belgian federal government’s austerity plans, Al Jazeera reported.
How Many Marched
- About 30,000, according to police
- 50,000, according to an earlier estimate by the ABVV trade union
The protest was organised by the socialist ABVV and the Christian ACV, Belgium’s two biggest unions. Marchers walked from Brussels Central station to Brussels South station under the slogan “stay out of our pockets”.
The Clashes
As the crowd gathered, a smaller group threw wooden beams, glass bottles and rubbish bins at police, The Belgian Times reported.
Riot police responded with tear gas, water cannon and baton charges.
Police drew a clear line between the two. The main union rally went ahead peacefully, they said, but “groups of troublemakers were responsible for serious incidents before and after the march”. Those who caused the disorder, police said, were “not linked” to the rally.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Brussels described an “acrid smell of burning in the air” from fires and tear gas, and said the protests kept flaring up again after police and emergency services moved in.
What the Anger Is About
The unions oppose measures under discussion for a new federal budget. Their concerns include:
- purchasing power
- the wage indexation system, which links pay to prices
- value-added tax (VAT)
- plans to introduce annualised working time
Separately, the ACV organised a protest by hundreds of activists at the Brussels headquarters of the governing coalition parties.
Students Join In
Some young people also took part. According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent, they said they had been inspired by school protests in France and wanted to raise the conditions they are learning in, feeling that they were “not being listened to”.
A Tense Week
The clashes followed a week of tension in the city of Liège, where authorities banned gatherings after students clashed with police and vandalised shops.
More than 200 people were arrested in Liège, and dozens of police officers were injured.
Image: A trade union demonstration in Brussels in 2005 (file photo, not this week’s march). Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
