Yellow vest activists back on Brussels' streets

Hundreds of yellow vest demonstrators marched through the streets of Brussels on Sunday, voicing their concerns on taxes, pensions, and civil rights issues.

Seventy protestors were detained following a violent clash and confrontation with police, according to local newspaper Le Soir.

Activists from more than 25 countries launched the protest, which they called European Act Ⅱ: Yellow Vests Invade Brussels. The event carried the slogan “Yellow vests together from every country”.

Demonstrators took to the streets holding flags of the European Union, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and other countries, and wielded banners with slogans, such as “Your silence will be violence” and flags emblazoned with “Stop the taxes” in French.

Their demands revolve around lower taxes, better pensions, equal civil rights, and social justice.

“What we do here is fight the government for abatement of taxes, reduction of expenses on essential energy, like electricity and fuel, and better healthcare. We still have a long way to go,” Brigitte Dupont, from the Belgian-French border area, told China Daily.

The latest yellow vest protest started peacefully during the fifth national climate march at the North Railway Station in Brussels at 1 pm but turned violent an hour later when a group of masked men smashed windows on an EU building that houses an information point for the external cooperation of the European Commission. The ground floor windows were smashed with bricks while an agitated protestor spray-painted “COLLAPSE” on the wall of the building in yellow.