National strike in Belgium as protesters rally against new government reforms

60,000 people demonstrated in Brussels against the new Belgian government's policies which affect pension reform, unemployment and hospital funding.

Transcript

00:00Ten days after its formation, the Belgian government is already facing mass protests.

00:14Over 60,000 people took to the streets in Brussels on Thursday to oppose the new government's

00:19shift to the right and to defend public services.

00:22They denounced a series of budget cuts announced by the government coalition nicknamed Arizona

00:28and led by Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever, which affects pensions, unemployment and hospital

00:33funding.

00:34It's not going well in the nursing homes, we are not replaced, you are the only caretaker,

00:44a whole floor, and each time we are told that it is the North-South, and so with that it

00:50is not going well.

00:51With the budget cuts it will be worse, we will not even be able to care for our elderly,

00:56they still worked for that, so that we take care of them.

00:59At the moment it is fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, and people complain, we don't have time

01:05to even talk to them.

01:09While unemployment benefits do not currently have a time limit in Belgium, the executive

01:13wants to limit them to two years.

01:15Furthermore, the ban on working on Sundays could be lifted.

01:19The government wants to increase military spending to 2% of GDP by 2029, but wants to

01:24rise the retirement age.

01:26We have several rights, and we have a special calculation for our pensions, and now they

01:32want to take it off.

01:33And the young people, they came to the army, to join the army, to serve the army, to serve

01:39the country, under conditions.

01:41And now, during the game, they changed the conditions, and that's coming hard for some

01:46people.

01:47The executive hopes to save 23 billion euros by 2029 through this round of budget cuts.

01:54However, some protestors denounce the effort as unfair towards workers compared to companies

01:59and the wealthy.

02:00We are going towards a precariousness, a pauperisation of the population, and what was asked is that

02:06we try to find a better balance, and also to touch people who earn a little too much,

02:11the big, the wide shoulders, as we call them.

02:13Public transport was severely disrupted, and the Belgian airspace was closed due to a strike

02:18by air traffic controllers.

02:20Clashes between police and demonstrators briefly broke out on the sidelines of the protest.

02:24The unions have announced a general strike on the 31st of March.