From Belgium to Berlin: Marxist Youth Wings Carry Riots North

In Belgium, protests mirroring the ongoing riots in France began in Liège on October 1 and spread to Mons, Charleroi, and Brussels. By October 9, Liège police had recorded 194 arrests, including 114 minors, and 43 injured officers. The city imposed a ban on gatherings of more than three people.

RTL footage and RTBF reporting documented the presence of RedFox, the secondary school youth movement of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (Parti du Travail de Belgique, or PTB), at the protests. RTBF’s investigation also found far-left activists distributing leaflets. Masked youths who admitted they were not from Liège described a pattern of stirring up the crowd and then inciting destruction.

RedFox’s leader denied that either the PTB or RedFox was responsible for the violence. The Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens, or CSC) and CGSP Enseignement, the education branch of the General Confederation of Public Services, declared their support for the students.

Georges-Louis Bouchez, chairman of the Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur, or MR), accused the PTB of manipulating students. The far-left collective Bruxelles Dévie (Brussels Deviates) condemned the gathering ban imposed by Liège’s Socialist mayor, Willy Demeyer, as authoritarian.

On October 9, the socialist General Labour Federation of Belgium (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique, or FGTB) and the CSC held a national demonstration in Brussels against the federal government’s budget plans. The FGTB claimed 50,000 participants, while police counted 30,000. According to the FGTB, the march included many young people, students, and teachers. PTB president Raoul Hedebouw attended the demonstration.

Before and after the march, hundreds of masked youths dressed in black confronted police, throwing sticks, trash bins, glass bottles, and fireworks, even though the FGTB president had urged rioters to stay home. Police counted about a thousand rioters and more than 100 arrests.

Defense Minister Theo Francken accused the PTB of links to the violence at the October 9 march. In an October 12 response, PTB general secretary Peter Mertens wrote that Francken had blamed “Hedebouw’s antifa shock troops.” Mertens said the incidents had nothing to do with the demonstration. He accused the government of trying to criminalize the opposition, citing the Quintin bill, which would allow the executive to act against organizations it considers too radical.

In Germany, the first organized action was a solidarity rally on October 8 in front of the French Embassy at Pariser Platz. It was called by Berlin Insoumise, the local branch of France’s LFI (La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, a far-left political party), and the Neukölln and Mitte chapters of Die Linke (The Left).

Supporters included Linksjugend Solid Neukölln (Left Youth Solid Neukölln), SDS Berlin (Socialist Democratic Students’ Association Berlin), and Klasse Gegen Klasse (Class Against Class). Other supporters were Sozialismus von Unten (Socialism from Below), Gruppe ArbeiterInnenmacht (Workers’ Power Group), Revolution, and Die Linke’s Palestine-solidarity working group (Klasse Gegen Klasse). The organizers demanded the release of more than 5,000 people arrested in France.

On October 12, about 150 students blockaded the French Gymnasium in Berlin’s Tiergarten district in solidarity with French students. A school in Hamburg was blocked with trash bins days later. On October 16, school strike committees organized another Berlin blockade under the banner “Schulstreik gegen die Wehrpflicht” (“School Strike Against Conscription”). Members of Linksjugend Solid, Klasse Gegen Klasse, and the GEW education union (Education and Science Workers’ Union) were on site.

The October 17 solidarity rally at Kleistpark was called by Linksjugend Solid, Die Linke’s Neukölln and Mitte chapters, and the Berlin branch of LFI. According to the Berliner Zeitung, a member of Linksjugend’s Berlin state board registered the rally.

About 250 people attended, few of them students. Participants carried flags of LFI, the Revolutionary Communist Party of Germany, and the Turkish Workers’ Party (TIP) (Tagesspiegel). Signs read “Mort au Roi” (“Death to the King”), and organizers announced a European day of action for November.

The Berlin police union GdP (Police Trade Union) warned that radical forces, chiefly Linksjugend Solid, could hijack the protests. Calls for French-style protests are circulating on TikTok ahead of anti-conscription demonstrations on October 31.

In both countries, left-wing youth organizations and political parties have participated in or supported the protests. Belgium has seen serious rioting, while Germany so far has seen school blockades and small rallies.