About 100 masked protesters reportedly broke away from main rally and started hurling objects and firecrackers at police

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Belgian police have fired water cannon during clashes with protesters at a demonstration in Brussels against the centre-right government’s austerity measures.

A 100-strong group of masked protesters broke away from the peaceful main rally of about 60,000 people in the Belgian capital and started hurling objects and firecrackers at riot police, reporters at the scene said.

Officers drove them back with jets of water from three cannon.



Tuesday’s protest is the first of months of planned demonstrations and national strikes led by trade unions against the policies of Charles Michel’s government.

Security had been tight amid fears of a repeat of the violence that marred a mass rally against reforms announced by Michel just after he came to power in 2014.

Brusselsremains under security alert following the 22 March suicide bombings at the airport and metro system, claimed by Islamic State.

Three main unions oppose proposals from the employment minister, Kris Peeters, that would allow employers to impose a working week of up to 45 hours when required, followed by shorter weeks to retain a 38-hour weekly average.

“I am here to protest against all the measures that this rightwing government is taking. They are attacking workers, pensioners and the unemployed,” Michel Beis, a trade union member taking part in the peaceful rally, told AFP before the violence broke out.

“We are going backwards,” added Jacques Warnier, a protester from the city of Liège.

The former Socialist prime minister Elio di Rupo was among the crowd of protesters, who wore red, green and blue tops in the colours of the main unions from both Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia.