BRUSSELS — Hundreds of protesters inspired by France’s “yellow vests” movement took to the streets of Brussels on Friday, stopping cars and blocking roads as they called for the country’s leader to resign.
What started out as a peaceful but unauthorized demonstration — with protesters in fluorescent vests gathering on the streets of Brussels on Friday morning — devolved into violent clashes between dozens of hooded demonstrators. When they began throwing rocks and road signs, the Belgian police used what they called “proportional violence” to restore order.
The police fired a water cannon and tear gas to keep protesters from hurling rocks at the prime minister’s office. At the end of the day, the crowd of about 500 dispersed, and the police said about 60 people had been arrested.
“No impunity for unacceptable violence in Brussels. Rioters and looters will be punished,” read a post on Twitter by Prime Minister Charles Michel, whose office had been targeted by the protesters with stones, firecrackers and other projectiles.
In Belgium, an adagio says, “When it rains in Paris, it drizzles in Brussels.” And it would appear to apply to Friday’s riots, too.
The protests in Brussels — the culmination of two weeks of civil unrest in Belgium’s southernmost and French-speaking region — were inspired by the French grass-roots movement called the gilets jaunes or yellow vests, named after the fluorescent safety vests that the drivers are obliged to keep on board vehicles in most European countries.
Thousands of yellow vests in France protested for two weekends against recent increases in fuel taxes imposed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government as part of efforts to reduce emissions causing global warming.
But the protesters in Belgium, renowned for having the highest average tax burden on wages of any highly developed country in the world, suggested they were simply fed up with the government.
Less than a mile down the road from the main protest site, protesters invoked the name of Mr. Michel, and chants of “Michel, resign” and “Money doesn’t fall from the sky” could be heard from the offices of the headquarters of the European Union.
Source : Nytimes
