Belgium's biggest unions brought Brussels to a standstill on October 9, 2026, as around 30,000 people joined a national strike against Prime Minister Bart De Wever's planned budget cuts. But violent clashes near Brussels Central Station, 21 detentions and burning buses now threaten to define a day that organizers had intended to be peaceful.
A national strike against austerity
The walkout was called by Belgium's two largest unions — the socialist FGTB/ABVV and the Christian CSC/ACV — which argue the government's budget measures would make workers, pensioners and low-income households bear the burden of reducing the country's deficit. Health cuts, VAT hikes, frozen wage indexation and pension cuts are all reportedly on the table.
De Wever counters that painful measures are needed now "to avert a looming debt and interest-cost spiral" that would otherwise leave future generations with a heavy bill. His government aims to save around $11.2 billion over the coming years, with coalition budget talks facing an October 13 deadline. The unions' alternative: higher taxes on the highest earners instead of cuts.
Students joined in large numbers, inspired in part by the ongoing education protests in neighboring France. Placards read "I skipped class to defend class" and "Education is a right, not a privilege" — and tuition fees for many students in the French-speaking community are set to rise from roughly $940 to $1,340.
The clashes at Central Station
Police said the main march of around 30,000 people passed off peacefully. But near Brussels Central Station and in central Brussels, a few dozen masked protesters dressed in black threw rocks, bottles, bricks, stones and fireworks at police, as anti-police slogans echoed and graffiti covered nearby walls. Firefighters extinguished several fires, including on buses, bikes and e-scooters, while public property was damaged.
Officers responded with water cannon and tear gas, and 21 people were detained or arrested, including 13 minors. A police statement said several hundred youths had gathered alongside the demonstrators and "there were serious disturbances to public order." Union leaders, for their part, said those behind the clashes were unaffiliated with their rally — their marchers, dressed in red and green union colors, had passed through peacefully. The unrest follows an earlier October wave of student demonstrations in Liège that reportedly saw around 200 arrests and dozens of wounded police officers.
Disruption across the capital
The strike disrupted public transport (STIB), schools and childcare facilities, while Brussels Airlines said about 40% of its flights would be cancelled. The Belgian walkout is part of a wave of protests sweeping Europe — students in France and Italy taking to the streets over education funding, and tens of thousands rallying in Spain over a housing crisis. A separate public-sector walkout is already planned for Monday, October 12.
The takeaway: with both sides dug in and more action planned, the question hanging over Brussels is the one a young protester posed to reporters — who should pay the price for fixing the economy?
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0