BRUSSELS was brought to a standstill today as an army of workers protested against the austerity programme of the new federal government.

After Belgium’s three largest labour federations backed the trade union-organised march, even the police put the attendance at 100,000 and the railways sold 80,000 special half-price tickets.

Key to the high attendance were a two-year wage freeze and the abolition of the link that keeps benefits and public and some private-sector wages in line with inflation.

The march had to begin earlier than planned because so many people had converged on the boulevards around Brussels North station.

Demonstrators paraded peacefully for over two hours down the main thoroughfares of central Brussels to protest against government policies that will raise the pension age, restrain wages and cut into public services.

The unexpectedly massive march opens a month-long campaign by the trade unions against the business-friendly governing coalition and is to be capped with a nationwide strike on December 15.

“This is the biggest demo in a quarter of a century,” said Marc Leemans of the Christian union federation ACV-CSC.

“A lot of people came here at their own initiative. They think it’s necessary.”

Rudy de Leeuw of the socialist-leaning General Federation of Belgian Labour said: “I haven’t experienced this in the 30 years I’ve been with the union. It is a very strong signal.

“The government’s policies are unbalanced and anti-social. Efforts are being asked of one side, while people with money are keeping safe in Luxembourg.”

Mr de Leeuw vowed to continue the protests for weeks on end.

Belgium has a long postwar tradition of collective bargaining between employers and workers and successive coalition governments representing a full scale of public opinion often have been able to contain social disagreements. 

But the current coalition, comprising three pro-business parties and the Christian Democrats, is the first in decades that has set such a clear anti-working-class and free-market agenda.

Violence erupted towards the end of the march, which Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur blamed on around 200 Antwerp dockworkers, giving police the opportunity to deploy their water cannon.