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Belgian police fired tear gas and water canon at ArcelorMittal workers who hurled paving stones and iron bolts across barriers during a tense protest in southern Namur that marked a new front in their battle to save their jobs.
Five officers were injured in the clashes on Tuesday, one was hospitalised, the force and local authorities said following a protest that gathered between 1,200 and 1,500 angry steelworkers, according to police and unions.
“We were stunned by the violence with which some of the protesters attacked us,” said local police chief Pascal Ligot.
He cited baseball bats, iron rods and bolts being used as weapons in the skirmishes at one of the plants earmarked for closure.
“They went straight to attack, without hesitation, without any chance of dialogue,” he underlined.
Stones smashed windows in nearby shops although there were only light injuries among protesters as they were shepherded behind barricades, the Belga news agency reported.
The clashes marked an escalation after scenes of frustration outside Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo’s official residence on Friday, as workers set for the dole mount a series of protests at doomed sites.
Unions announced in Namur that they will next target ArcelorMittal’s headquarters in Luxembourg and the European Parliament in Strasbourg, although they did not spell out dates.
“We’re going to pressure the politicians — it’s up to them to make Mittal fold,” said one of the union representatives, David Camerini.
ArcelorMittal is shutting down six cold-processing facilities in the Liege region of eastern Belgium, blaming weak demand for cars and cutbacks in auto plants for the fall in demand for steel.
The company is also embroiled in controversy in France over the closure of two blast furnaces, and with both countries under Socialist leadership, workers appear to be gaining in confidence.
In Belgium, in an echo of other once—powerhouse industries such as coal and shipbuilding, the numbers employed in the steel business collapsed from some 34,000 in 1981 to under 10,000 this year.
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