Protests against education policies were eventful again in Belgium

Although demonstrations were not allowed in the capital Brussels, hundreds of young people, including union members and teachers, gathered at the Central Train Station in the morning and marched.

During the marches, which were repeatedly blocked by the police, some demonstrators used the construction site barriers and collectively advanced towards the police and threw various objects.

Police pushed back the demonstrators with tear gas and water cannon.

The events spread to different parts of the city later in the day and continued in the Stock Exchange Square and its surroundings in the city center in the evening.

After the situation partially calmed down around 17:00, the crowd gathered in the square and shouted anti-police slogans. In the evening, clashes broke out again between the police and demonstrators.

While the police repeatedly intervened against the demonstrators with tear gas and pressurized water, plainclothes police teams detained some people from the crowd. It was learned that several people were injured in the incidents.

"This is no longer an act of protest"

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin condemned the events and stated that the demonstrations turned into violence.

"This is no longer an act of protest. This is outright violence, orchestrated and repeated with the aim of destabilizing our society," Quintin said. he said.

Stating that the federal police support the local police, Quintin noted that all necessary means will be used to restore public order.

Party building was attacked, vehicles were set on fire

According to the official news agency Belga, in the events that spread to the Central Station and the Marolles district in the afternoon, demonstrators attacked the Socialist Party (PS) building and broke its windows.

While the demonstrators set fire to a garbage container in the city center and three cars in Marolles, some demonstrators crossed into Anderlecht district and set up barricades with shared bicycles and scooters. These vehicles were then set on fire.

There were also disruptions in public transportation due to the events. In the statement made by the Brussels Public Transport Company (STIB), it was stated that some stations were completely closed to transportation and some partially, upon the request of the police. Services were also stopped on some bus and tram lines.

Police intervened with demonstrators in Liege

A protest was also held in Liege against education policies and budget cuts.

A group of 200 to 250 people, mostly young people, gathered in front of Guillemins Train Station at around 10:00 local time and reacted to the austerity policies in the field of education.

The demonstrators marched towards the city center at around 11:00 and blocked bus services by staging a sit-in protest.

Demonstrators blocked several roads, including a motorway junction, at around 1.15pm. Police dispersed the crowd after some demonstrators tried to create a barricade by carrying road barriers.

While the police intervened with pressurized water against the demonstrators, people gathered around chanted slogans such as "Release our friends".

Student protests, which started as a reaction to education conditions in France, spread to the French-speaking part of Belgium on October 1.

Many people were detained and some were arrested during the demonstrations where public order was disrupted.