Brussels Riots End With 150 Arrests as Anger Over Cuts to Schools and Police Boils Over

Brussels police made 150 arrests after rioting broke out in the city centre on Saturday, the latest and largest outbreak of unrest in a month marked by strikes and clashes tied to the federal government's budget plans. Officers made 118 administrative arrests and 32 judicial ones, including 15 minors, on charges that range from throwing projectiles at police to resisting arrest and deliberate arson.

Five officers from the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone suffered minor injuries during the disorder. Rioters built barricades in the city centre out of shared e-scooters and construction materials, and police say the damage across the area is still being assessed. Investigators continue working to identify further suspects, meaning the arrest total could still rise.

Education and police cuts fuel the latest unrest

The rioting followed a protest against cuts to French-speaking education and to police funding under the budget plans of what is widely known in Belgium as the Arizona government, a nickname for Prime Minister Bart De Wever's coalition drawn from the four parties' combined colors matching the flag of the US state. It is the third significant outbreak of street violence in Brussels this month, after clashes near Gare du Midi on October 9 and again on October 12 during the same wider dispute over spending cuts.

The common thread running through all three incidents is a budget negotiation that has yet to produce an agreement nearly three weeks after De Wever canceled his state of the union address rather than present a plan still short of consensus among his coalition partners. With no deal yet reached on the roughly ten billion euro package the government needs to adopt, the protests show little sign of easing before one is.