Clashes break out at Belgian protest against education reforms

BRUSSELS - Clashes broke out between protesters and police in Brussels on Thursday, as a demonstration against planned reforms to part of the country's education sector turned violent.

The Brussels police department advised people on its X account to avoid the area around Brussels' central station, while Reuters TV crews and photographers at the scene saw debris left behind after bikes and street signs had been vandalised.

Belgium's French Community government, which oversees French-language education, plans to increase annual tuition fees for higher education to about €1,100 ($1,280.18) from €835. It also proposes that teachers in the final years of secondary school take on two additional classroom hours per week.

The parliament of the French Community is expected to vote on the proposed cost-cutting measures later on Thursday.

($1 = 0.8593 euros)

(Reporting by Bart Biesemans and Yiming Woo, Writing by Sudip-Kar Gupta and Charlotte Van Campenhotu; editing by Barbara Lewis)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 5:24 AM.