Brussels Protest Draws 30,000, Turns Violent as Police Fire Tear Gas Over Budget Cuts
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 9
Brussels Protest Draws 30,000, Turns Violent as Police Fire Tear Gas Over Budget Cuts
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 9
Summary
30,000 people joined an anti-austerity march in Brussels on Friday, but clashes erupted at the central railway station as masked youths threw rocks and firecrackers and set fires.
Riot police answered with tear gas and water cannons, dispersing crowds as the unrest snarled traffic across the Belgian capital.
Police and union leaders said those behind the violence were not part of the main labor-backed demonstration, which was organized by two of Belgium’s biggest unions during a national strike.
The protest was driven by budget cuts and rising living costs, with demonstrators citing pressure from school, transport and train-ticket expenses.
That anger has been building for months: tuition in Belgium’s French Community rose about 43% to €1,194 this academic year, after June clashes in Brussels and 107 student arrests in Liège this week.