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