Student protests in Liège, Belgium: hundreds take to the streets

Student protests are under way in the Belgian city of Liège, with hundreds of people taking part, Reuters reports. The students are angry about rising education costs, overcrowded classes and poor access to study materials. Demonstrators hold banners over their heads with slogans such as “This is a mess, we’re fighting for a right, not a privilege!” and “I want an education, not ‘The Hunger Games’!”.

According to Belgian media, those detained most often face charges of damaging other people’s property or arson. Police reportedly searched demonstrators on Wednesday to make sure they were not carrying weapons.

Because of the protests, the Belgian government on Thursday urged Liège shopkeepers to close their shops early. The city’s main railway station was closed for a while but has since reopened. Police are also asking residents to avoid the city centre.

Link to the French protests

Some participants said they are in contact with French demonstrators. “We support each other because we face essentially the same problems,” said 19-year-old Alfred. Amelia Di Salve, also 19 and a student of education, added: “When we saw that nothing changes without protests, we decided to start… France influenced us a bit.”

Because of a school reform that includes raising tuition for most French-speaking students from EUR 835 to EUR 1,194 (from CZK 20,380 to CZK 29,142), Belgian students already took to the streets in June, and in Brussels it came to clashes with police. The protests in France have merely stirred up again the tension that has long been building in Belgian education.

Source: novinky.cz