Several hundred demonstrators came to the Brussels-North railway station on Tuesday, shortly before 10 a.m. This was to take part in the national trade union demonstration against the measures concerning pensions, both taken and anticipated by the federal government. In terms of numbers we cannot really speak of there being a massive influx of demonstrators. There has been a strong presence of the socialist trade union the FGTB.
Belga journalists, on-site, observed that it was somewhat peaceful, compared to other national demonstrations, shortly before the group of demonstrators left the railway station. The atmosphere was fairly calm on Avenue du Roi Albert, where traffic was able to move in a limited way before 10 a.m.
However the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone indicated on Twitter, shortly after 10 a.m., that it was impossible for traffic to move in both directions on Avenue du Roi Albert. The police zone added that traffic movement on the Inner Ring Road, up to that point, had remained unaffected.
The Brussels Times
