Close to 2,000 people demonstrated in front of Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne’s offices in Brussels to protest his proposed "anti-protest law", which trade unions fear will curtail their ability to strike.
The minister’s bill has garnered significant controversy over its plan to issue three-year public protest bans to demonstrators found guilty of committing a crime at another demonstration.
While Van Quickenborne believes that his proposal will result in a “more humane, faster and firmer judicial process," unions and NGOs are fearful of the repercussions for future demonstrations.
Speaking at Wednesday’s protest, the second public demonstration against the legal reform this month, the FGTB-ABVV union’s President Thierry Bodson said that the bill will "fracture social dialogue" in Belgium.
Marc Leemans of the Christian unions confederation (CSC) agreed and expressed his doubts over the small print of the legislation: "Sticking a poster on a wall might no longer be authorised because the company's buildings would be considered damaged," he warned.
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Others went one step further, with Greenpeace's spokesperson Carine Thibaut describing the proposed law as "an attack on our democracy." Greenpeace found itself especially targeted by the government's tougher approach, with 14 of the group’s activists having been prosecuted over their role in a peaceful protest at the Zeebrugge port.
The unions and activist groups will now have to wait until 5 July to see if the bill will pass. They have all promised to repeat their protests if the law is not amended, especially given that "the government is doing its utmost to pass the text by the summer."
