BRUSSELS — A student protest in Brussels turned violent on Thursday as demonstrators clashed with police in the city center over a controversial education reform.
Teachers had been protesting education budget cuts in Belgium’s French-speaking regions since the beginning of the week, with students joining the demonstrations Thursday morning.
Videos and photos published on social media showed protesters setting e-scooters on fire and smashing the windows of shops and bus stops near Brussels-Central Station. Police responded with water cannons and tear gas to disperse protestors.
Police blocked streets near where Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s government residence and the parliament of the French Community are located.
Around 2 p.m., as lawmakers voted on the reform in the French Community parliament, protesters attempted to enter the building by forcing open doors while police prevented them from reaching the chamber, according to local media.
Other protestors gathered in front of the police barriers on Wetstraat, a few meters away from De Wever’s residence, before moving north along a major road, lighting flares and disrupting traffic.
Georges-Louis Bouchez, chairman of the centre-right Reformist Movement party, accused teachers of inciting the students. “I can understand that the teachers are angry, that they are worried, and that they have questions. But this is unreasonable. They must return to the classroom and stop inciting the youth, including on the basis of disinformation,” he told VRT News.
The unrest caused traffic jams across several Brussels districts, with residents being forced to find alternative routes to reach their homes.