Market reforms spur protests in Belgium

BRUSSELS – About 100,000 workers marched across Brussels Thursday to protest government free-market reforms and austerity measures, and the demonstration ended in violence when people set fire to cars and threw cobblestones and police responded with tear gas and water cannons.

About 50 people were injured and 30 detained, police said, in one of biggest postwar labor demonstrations in Belgium, a country long seen as a vaunted welfare state.

The violent end overshadowed a raucous but largely peaceful march for better protection of workers during the economic crisis. The workers were protesting government policies that will raise the pension age, freeze wages and cut into public services.

“They are hitting the workers, the unemployed. They are not looking for money where it is, I mean, people with a lot of money,” said Philippe Dubois, who came from the industrial rust belt of Liege.

Pakistan denies aiding militants

ISLAMABAD –Pakistan on Thursday rejected allegations in a Pentagon report that it supports militant proxies in neighboring India and Afghanistan, emphasizing its own battles against militants.

The report, “Progress Towards Security and Stability in Afghanistan,” said militants continue to enjoy safe havens in Pakistan and that Pakistan uses the fighters as a hedge against its loss of influence in Afghanistan and as a counterweight to India’s superior military.

Pakistan noted that its military is waging a major offensive against militants in North Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The U.S. report lauded the latest Pakistani military push and acknowledged that the army had made gains against Pakistani and foreign militants.

Associated Press