Alot of people from Europe, particularly in Belgium were very anxious with the new austerity moves that the European Union government is implementing. The citizens fear that this will slowly worsen the economy of the country. Thousands of people from Brussels, nay, tens of thousands had a strike march along the streets of Brussels to show their protest against such a move by the government.

Aside from slowing the economic recovery, the citizens fear that this will also be a punishment to the poor. This protest does not only reverberate across the Belgian capital, but 13 other cities have called for protests against the measure. For example, Spain also held a strike. Several Spanish and Warsaw Unions staged protests to go against this measure and consequent measures, including labour and pension market reforms and spending cuts.

The organizers of the rally at Brussels claimed that they were successful in bringing over 100,000 people into the rally, but the police said their official count is around 56,000, where 218 of those were arrested for minor criminal offenses. In other places the rallies are much smaller.

This is just the beginning, according to John Monks, who is the head of the European Union Trade Conference. Their ultimate goal is for the government to hear their voices; they want growth and jobs, and they are against austerity measures.