Anti-VW demo brings 15,000 to Brussels streets

At least 15,000 demonstrators marched through Brussels yesterday in protest at planned job cuts at the Belgian factory of German carmaker Volkswagen. Brussels residents and trade union members from across Europe, including Germany, joined almost the...

At least 15,000 demonstrators marched through Brussels yesterday in protest at planned job cuts at the Belgian factory of German carmaker Volkswagen. Brussels residents and trade union members from across Europe, including Germany, joined almost the entire 5,000 workforce of the affected plant, shouting "We want jobs", whistling, throwing firecrackers and carrying coffins.

Volkswagen announced two weeks ago it would end manufacture of its top-selling Golf at its plant in Brussels, reducing the workforce to 1,500 from some 5,000. The news prompted a strike.

A deal brokered on Friday by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to bring production of a small new Audi to Brussels and save some 3,000 jobs has softened Belgian anger. Francis Wurtz, French European parliament member and head of the parliament's left bloc, complained multinationals were making European workers fight each other and accept ever worse conditions.

Foreign workers said they had come to show their solidarity with their Belgian counterparts as well as to take a stance against offshoring.

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