Brussels, 24/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On the first day of the European Council, between 20,000 and 30,000 people descended on Brussels on Thursday 24 March to protest against the austerity measures imposed by governments in Europe in demonstrations spattered with clashes between demonstrators and police as groups broke away from the marches.
For almost two hours, a group of protesters, some with their faces hidden by Socialist trade union FGTB scarves rained cobblestones torn up from the roads on police forces close to the seat of the Belgian prime minister in the centre of the capital, journalists told AFP. The police replied with water cannon but did not charge the demonstrators, who also smashed the glass door and a window in a building belonging to the Finance Ministry. Police, present in great numbers, managed to prevent demonstrators from heading to where EU heads of state and government were due to begin their meeting in the afternoon. The pact for the euro is at the root of the ire of the European trade unions, which called the demonstration. ETUC (the European Trade Union Confederation) says that the pact planned for European countries will see wages and social rights dangerously diminished. Belgian unions continue to fear, in particular, for the Belgian system of automatic wage increases in line with inflation. Joined by delegations from Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, demonstrators numbered 20,000 according to the organisers. The police put the numbers at 13,000. At the same time, 10,000 people (between 5,000 and 6,000 according to police) from Belgium's largest trade union, the Central chrétienne (CSC) gathered in the Heysel exhibition park to the north of the city for a separate demonstration, but one sharing similar objectives. (G.B./transl.rt)