The far right Vlaams Belang party staged a protest rally in the vicinity of Brussels Central Station this afternoon. The party says politicians in Brussels do not listen to people sufficiently. Some 2,000 protesters were expected. Organisers say 3,000 turned up. The police put their number at 1,500. At the same time, more than 500 people are marching through the streets of Brussels as part of a counter-demonstration.
The Vlaams Belang meeting is the culmination of a 10-day campaign in which chairman Tom Van Grieken walked from Ostend to the capital with only one message "Make them listen", a sneer at politicians in the Wetstraat in Brussels, Belgium’s political nerve centre. The party says these politicians don’t "listen enough to people living on ordinary streets".
The counter-demonstration is an initiative of trade unions, peace movements and anti-fascist groups. They want to warn against the rise of the far-right.
The rally organisers were obliged to go to court to get permission for their rally to go ahead after the mayor of Brussels banned both the rally and the counter demo.