{"id":238193,"date":"2025-02-13T16:33:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/protests-in-brussels-halt-over-400-flights-and-snarl-public-transit\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T16:33:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:33:31","slug":"protests-in-brussels-halt-over-400-flights-and-snarl-public-transit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/protests-in-brussels-halt-over-400-flights-and-snarl-public-transit\/","title":{"rendered":"Protests in Brussels Halt Over 400 Flights and Snarl Public Transit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/13\/multimedia\/13xp-brussels-protest-hkql\/13xp-brussels-protest-hkql-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Protests in Brussels Halt Over 400 Flights and Snarl Public Transit\" title=\"Protests in Brussels Halt Over 400 Flights and Snarl Public Transit\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators filled the streets of Brussels on Thursday during a nationwide strike to protest proposed cuts to public services, halting air traffic and causing other travel delays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Brussels Airport said there would be no departing or arriving flights because of the strike, which included air traffic controllers, external security service workers and baggage handlers. More than 400 flights and 60,000 passengers were affected, the airport said, warning that it was likely to be very busy on Friday as travelers rebooked later flights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Brussels police said that about 60,000 protesters took to the streets on Thursday. The strike also disrupted public transit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During the protest, a small group of people threw items, including plastic traffic barriers and metal bolts, at police officers. The authorities used tear gas to push back the protesters, and several people were arrested, the police said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe deplore these acts of violence, which have no place in a peaceful demonstration and constitute a serious threat to public order,\u201d the local police said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Belgium reached an agreement last month to form a coalition government, ending seven months of complicated negotiations over unpopular proposed cuts to social spending. The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/31\/world\/europe\/belgium-government-new-flemish-alliance.html\" title=\"\">new prime minister, Bart De Wever<\/a>, the leader of a conservative Flemish nationalist party who was sworn in this month, leads a broad five-party coalition and has pledged to stabilize the country\u2019s finances. He has also said he will implement stricter policies on migration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like other countries in Europe, Belgium faces an aging population and rising costs of pensions, and new European Union fiscal rules have raised the pressure to rein in the budget deficit. Last month, the retirement age increased to 66 from 65. By 2030, the retirement age is set to increase to 67 for those born in 1960 or later, though there would be some exceptions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In France, a decision to raise the retirement age has led to huge protests. Last month, Prime Minister Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou said he was open to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/14\/world\/europe\/france-prime-minister-bayrou-retirement-age.html\" title=\"\">changing<\/a> the unpopular measure, which raised the retirement age there to 64 from 62.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Chris Huybrechts, the president of VSOA Defense, a Belgian union representing workers in the defense industry, said people were frustrated with the government\u2019s approach. \u201cThe government wont listen to the people,\u201d he said. \u201cThe working class has to pay more to get less.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/13\/world\/europe\/brussels-protests-air-traffic.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators filled the streets of Brussels on Thursday during a nationwide strike to protest proposed cuts to public services, halting air traffic and causing other travel delays. Brussels Airport said there would be no departing or arriving flights because of the strike, which included air traffic controllers, external security service [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/13\/multimedia\/13xp-brussels-protest-hkql\/13xp-brussels-protest-hkql-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4869,181621,185581,185580,43104,9368,13882,10452,163229,3560,185582,129932],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238195,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238193\/revisions\/238195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}