General strike in Belgium against government reforms draws tens of thousands to the capital

Published on 12/05/2026 - 18:05 GMT+2

Between 40,000 and 70,000 radical marched done the streets of Brussels connected Tuesday. The demonstrators gathered astatine the telephone of the country’s 3 main commercialized unions to denounce the national government’s reforms, which the commercialized unions see to beryllium "anti-social".

The main issues and demands of the demonstration: pensions, purchasing powerfulness and automatic wage indexation.

Unions person condemned a pension betterment that leaves workers worse off. They person besides condemned an onslaught connected the automatic indexation of wages.

The rally took spot against a backdrop of soaring vigor prices caused by the warfare successful the Middle East.

This nationalist objection is portion of a commercialized national run led for the past twelvemonth and a fractional by workers’ representatives against the ruling conjugation authorities led by Prime curate Bart De Wever, a Flemish nationalist.

Public transport crossed the state was moving astatine a reduced service. Charleroi Airport cancelled each flights scheduled for the day.

The past nationalist demonstration, connected March 12, had drawn betwixt 80,000 and 100,000 radical to Brussels.