Working class sections and left-wing parties in Belgium have intensified the agitation against a bill proposed by Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne with provisions to ban ‘rioters’ from participating in protests. Due to fierce opposition from legislators of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB/PVDA), the coalition government has postponed voting on the bill in the parliament.
On October 5, around 10,000 demonstrated in Brussels demanding that the bill be withdrawn as it endangers the right to organize and the freedom of expression. The protest was called for by trade unions including the General Labor Federation of Belgium (FGTB/ABVV), political parties like PTB/PVDA, and various rights groups and NGOs.
Quickenborne, from the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld), proposed the bill to promote “a more humane, a swifter and a firmer justice,” with provisions to ban “rioters” from protests for three to six years. Critics of the bill point out that the government and the security forces can misuse these provisions to target trade unionists and activists. The High Council of Justice and the Federal Institute of Human Rights have also expressed their concerns over the bill.
Belgian workers have recently intensified mobilizations demanding wages at par with inflation to cope with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Several trade unionists in Belgium have faced criminal proceedings for organizing pickets and strikes.
In the UK as well, amid a rising tide of strikes and protests to demand solutions to the cost of living crisis, the conservative government has resorted to anti-worker legislation targeting the right to strike.
In its statement on October 10, the PTB/PVDA said that “the government’s desire to stifle protest comes as no surprise since it makes the decisions against which the people protest: wage freezes, tax increases, polluting energies…It doesn’t suit the politicians in power when citizens express their discontent or question the system.”
“In the Federal Parliament, the PTB’s four workers’ MPs—who together have years of experience of trade union work and social struggle—made their voices heard on this bill, which threatens the right to demonstrate and take industrial action. A broad front of unions and organizations is protesting against this bill. ‘Protesters, not criminals’, they say. The PTB supports this mobilization in the streets and is relaying it inside Parliament. For four hours, our four workers’ deputies told their stories of life and struggle. To make the voice of the working class heard. To explain that resisting and defending workers’ rights is not a crime,” the statement added.
