Police Clash with Rioters at Anti-Austerity Protests in Belgium

Tens of thousands, estimated by police at 30,000, demonstrated on Friday in Brussels against austerity, amid tight security measures and amidst secondary school student movements, as the protest march was marred by violence and vandalism.

Police said they were forced to use water cannons and tear gas after youths, many of whom were dressed in black and covered their faces, pelted them with "cobblestones, sticks, bottles, and fireworks."

Austerity to reduce deficit
Police clarified that these disturbances "have no connection to the demands of the demonstration or its conduct," noting that Belgium's two largest unions had called for the mobilization.

From Central Station to South Station, passing through the Marolles district, riot police faced groups of fast-moving young men who appeared determined to engage in confrontations, according to an AFP team on site.

Police arrested around 20 suspects, most of them minors, according to initial figures.

This national mobilization took place while Prime Minister Bart De Wever is negotiating with his coalition partners on broad austerity measures aimed at achieving savings of 10 billion euros (11.2 billion dollars) by the end of the legislative term in 2029, to reduce a deficit exceeding 5% of GDP.

For their part, unions fear that the five-party center-right coalition will once again rule out the option of taxing high earners to reduce the massive deficit.

"Bold and difficult choices"
De Wever, ready to cut health spending by billions of euros and raise VAT amid inflation, insists he is forced to make "bold and difficult choices," after his predecessors allowed the public deficit and debt to worsen.

His government, which took office in February 2025, quickly faced a union front regularly rallying thousands of people in the streets of Brussels, numbering over 80,000 last October and in mid-March.

On Friday, secondary and university students joined the demonstrators, denouncing budget cuts affecting education in Belgium's French-speaking regions.

Media student Lola Timmermans told AFP, "If we don't fight now, if we don't question authority now, things will get worse."

The anger focuses on the decision to raise registration fees in French-speaking higher institutes and universities, known locally as "Minerval."