Clashes break out at Belgian protest against education reforms


BRUSSELS, June ⁠4 (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between protesters ⁠and police in Brussels on ‌Thursday, as a demonstration against planned reforms to part of the country's education sector turned ​violent.

The Brussels police department ⁠advised people on ⁠its X account to avoid the area ⁠around ‌Brussels' central station, while Reuters TV crews and photographers ⁠at the scene saw debris left ​behind after ‌bikes and street signs had been ⁠vandalised.

Belgium's ​French Community government, which oversees French-language education, plans to increase annual tuition ⁠fees for higher education to ​about €1,100 ($1,280.18) from €835. It also proposes that teachers in the final years of secondary ⁠school take on two additional classroom hours per week.

The parliament of the French Community is expected to vote ​on the proposed cost-cutting ⁠measures later on Thursday.

($1 = 0.8593 euros)

(Reporting ​by Bart Biesemans and ‌Yiming Woo, Writing by ​Sudip-Kar Gupta and Charlotte Van Campenhotu; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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