One of Belgium's biggest post-war labor demonstrations turned violent on Thursday night with police firing tear gas and the water cannon to break up the crowd.

No casualties were immediately reported, though 14 demonstrators were reportedly taken to area hospitals, Brussels newspaper De Morgen reports.

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Voorlopige balans na rellen bij nationale #betoging: 14 gewonden, laat het Rode Kruis weten. http://t.co/hpBvmi4j5I pic.twitter.com/vjOe4oMGua — VTM NIEUWS (@VTMNIEUWS) November 6, 2014

The march had brought some 100,000 workers to the capital to protest government free-market reforms and austerity measures that they claim undermine Belgium's vaunted welfare state.

For two hours, the demonstrators peacefully marched down the main thoroughfares of central Brussels to protest government policies that will raise the pension age, contain wages and cut into public services.

The violence marred the end of the march.

"They are hitting the workers, the unemployed. They are not looking for money where it is, I mean, people with a lot of money," said Philippe Dubois, who came from the industrial rust belt of Liege.

A worker protects his ears as firecrackers explode during a national trade union demonstration in Brussels, Thursday Nov. 6, 2014. Image: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press

Belgium has a long postwar tradition of collective bargaining between employers and workers, and successive coalition governments representing a full scale of public opinion often have been able to contain social disagreements. But the current coalition, made up of three pro-business parties and the centrist Christian Democrats, is the first in decades that has been able to set such a clear free-market agenda.

Workers protest during a national trade union demonstration in Brussels, Thursday Nov. 6, 2014. Image: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press

The government says it has been forced to push through stringent austerity measures to keep the budget deficit within European Union constraints and insists that businesses need more lenient tax policies to become more competitive in the global market.

The trade unions object to government policies that promise to raise the pension age from 65 to 67, freeze the automatic link between wages and inflation, and cut public services in a way that would affect the entire population.

Brian Ries contributed to this report.