Belgium's parliament for the French Community has approved a sweeping package of education cuts, passing the measures late at night following a marathon 14-hour session — even as protests in central Brussels descended into violence earlier in the day. Around 3,000 teachers, students, and trade union members had gathered in the Belgian capital to demonstrate against the austerity plans, but a minority of demonstrators clashed with police near Central Station, erecting barricades and setting fires. Officers deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, while the façade of the French Community parliament was splattered with red paint. Approximately ten people were arrested. The leader of the Christian-democratic governing party Les Engagés was attacked near the parliament building and had to be escorted to safety by police.

The cuts, part of a broader austerity drive announced last year to address a chronic budget deficit, are projected to save around 500 million euros by 2029 out of a total budget of approximately 15 billion euros. The measures approved overnight include requiring secondary school teachers to work two additional hours per week without any salary increase, a stricter sick-leave regime for tenured teaching staff, tighter end-of-career rules, and raising university and college tuition fees to up to 1,194 euros per year for a majority of students starting from the coming academic year. Less funding will also be available for the renovation of ageing school buildings. The governing majority — made up of the liberal MR party and Les Engagés — voted in favour, while opposition parties voted against. The parliamentary debate was itself disrupted by students who had taken seats in the public gallery.

The reaction from governing politicians was sharp. The leader of MR described the damage caused by some protesters as "unacceptable" and suggested teachers bore partial responsibility, accusing them of politicising classrooms and spreading misinformation. He called on teachers to return to their classes and stop, in his words, "instrumentalising" young people. Teachers on the ground pushed back strongly, with one Dutch and English language instructor describing the cumulative effect of the measures: larger class sizes, heavier workloads, and deteriorating working conditions for the same pay.

Why this matters: This vote marks the sixth time in roughly a year that protests have taken place in Brussels against the French Community government's reform agenda. Belgium's French Community — known as the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles — is the autonomous body that governs education and culture for French-speaking Belgians. The scale of opposition, and the violence it produced, signals deep tension between fiscal pressures and public sector workers who see the reforms as fundamentally unfair. With the cuts now law, the question turns to whether industrial action will continue to disrupt schools in the months ahead.