Tensions flared outside a political event in Wallonia on Wednesday, as the leader of the Belgian French-speaking, center-right Reformist Movement (MR) party was insulted and pelted with beer by protesters.
MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez had just arrived in Gembloux, a town southeast of Brussels, to attend a party conference when members of the trade union FGTB started shouting insults and throwing middle fingers at him.
As he got out of the car, a group of demonstrators, primarily affiliated with the socialist-leaning union, reportedly shouted insults and ultimately threw a glass of beer at him.
“I had agreed, as I always do, to debate the various reforms with socialist trade unionists before the start of our conference,” Bouchez wrote on his social media following the incident.
“When I arrived, one of their members threw a glass of beer at me, insults, threats, obscene gestures. The police had to intervene,” he said.
He argued that although he could have have asked for police protection, he decided to stay and confront the protesters to show he was not intimidated.
According to members of the FGTB trade union, however, Bouchez provoked the demonstrators who had come outside the party congress to talk with him.
“The facts are clear: he was the one who charged at the demonstrators. As for the glass of beer, everyone regrets it, even their own security service noticed that it came from inside the room,” FGTB Regional Secretary Jonathan Hubert said on social media.
“We strongly denounce this staging and deplore the attitude of a party president who chooses provocation over dialogue. This is not our conception of democratic debate,” he added.
Belgium’s government has long had a tumultuous relationship with the country’s labor unions, often clashing over issues such as economic reforms, pension policies and workers’ rights.
The tension has worsened following the election of Belgium’s new center-right government, of which MR is a part, with unions criticizing reforms they see as harmful to workers.
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