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Hundreds of youths faced off with riot police in the streets of Brussels on Friday in chaotic scenes on the sidelines of a workers’ march, with officers firing water cannons and tear gas at the crowd.
Some 30,000 people turned out for the national strike against government austerity measures, police said, with tensions running high after days of student protests inspired by those in France.
Dozens of protesters, many of them young, dressed in black and wearing masks, threw rocks and firecrackers at police at the central Brussels railway station, before setting several fires, one to a pile of city bikes and electric scooters.
The clashes came after a week of tensions in the city of Liege, where authorities placed a ban on public gatherings as students clashed with police and vandalised shops. More than 200 people were arrested in Liege and dozens of police injured.
Protests drawn by public debt
Union movements had hoped to draw tens of thousands of people to Brussels as the Belgian government struggles to finalise a budget for next year. Belgium is mired in public debt, like its neighbour France and also Italy.
Union leaders said the rioters had nothing to do with their rally. Union members and their supporters were dressed colourfully, clad in red or green, and their march through the Brussels city centre passed off peacefully.
“Things are getting worse at an ever-faster rate; people have had enough. Like the teachers, the pupils can also see that conditions are deteriorating,” said union representative Luc Toussaint.
“I work, but I cannot make ends meet”, said Marie Gobert, a single mother and social worker who came from the city of Namur with one of her daughters for the march.
She said that school costs have just gone up along with the price of public transport and train tickets. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this anxious about all the measures making my daily life difficult”, she said.
Youths on the street inspired by France
High-school students from Belgium’s French-speaking community have been demonstrating against education budget cuts — inspired in part by protests across the border in France.
Friday’s day of action was the latest in a series of strikes in recent months against efforts by Prime Minister Bart De Wever to save 10 billion euros over the next few years in a bid to reduce the country’s high deficit.
The Flemish conservative is currently locked in protracted talks with his coalition partners to try to find a deal on the cuts by 13 October.
Trade unions are pushing for the government to increase taxes on the highest earners, rather than impose cuts in areas like health and hike VAT.
“You can feel the social tension; you can feel anger starting to simmer everywhere”, Gobert said. “The education system is being dismantled, and when young people want to speak out, no one listens to them”.