What began as a demonstration against education budget cuts has descended into days of rioting in central Brussels, with violent protesters setting fire to scooters and bicycles, throwing fireworks at police, and bringing parts of the Belgian capital to a standstill.
The original demonstration was called last Thursday by teachers protesting a €300 million cut to the French-speaking community’s education budget, which they say will make them work longer hours for less money. Students joined teachers mainly out of solidarity—as did Greta Thunberg, who also traveled to the Belgian capital to “fight for justice and democracy.”
But the dispute over education cuts has long since been overshadowed, with the protests quickly hijacked by violent groups of self-described ‘students,’ many reportedly from immigrant backgrounds, who have spent the past three days setting fire to barricades and clashing with police.
After a relatively peaceful weekend, the protest resumed on Monday afternoon, partly to denounce ‘police brutality’ in the week prior. The police again had to resort to tear gas and water cannons to disperse rioters armed with fireworks, petrol cans, and makeshift incendiary devices. They arrested eight people and seized several Molotov cocktails.
“For the third time in just a few days, migrant rioters are setting scooters ablaze and hurling fireworks. Brussels politicians apparently couldn’t care less, and the federal authorities seem to be looking the other way too. Unthinkable that this can happen,” said Tom Van Grieken, president of the nationalist Vlaams Belang, Belgium’s second-largest party.
Meanwhile, the Belgian government is considering adopting new legislation to hold rioters financially responsible for the damage they cause. “If you break it, you pay for it,” explained Bernard Quintin, the liberal interior minister pushing for the new vandalism law.
Furthermore, Quintin also proposed legislation that would allow authorities to ban certain demonstrations. “I will always defend democratic freedoms, and certainly the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression,” the minister said on Monday. “But that must never lead to the use of violence or the causing of destruction in our capital. The spiral of violence must stop.”
With authorities struggling to bring the disorder under control, some ministers began floating more unconventional solutions. Conservative Defense Minister Theo Francken (N-VA) pitched sending unruly youths to military boot camps, arguing that stricter discipline could help steer them away from trouble while also boosting reserve recruitment.
Belgium already has a voluntary program, called #Reboot4You, for young people unsure what to do with their lives after finishing school. Francken thinks its scope can be widened to host violent rioters as well. “We can incorporate even more drill, even more discipline for some of those young people who are completely out of control,” the minister explained. He added that while the decision is the responsibility of the justice ministry, the defense ministry is happy to support a “pilot project.”
