Liège student protests: 80 administrative detentions and 27 judicial arrests reported

Student protests in Liège, Belgium, have led to 80 administrative detentions and 27 judicial arrests since early October, according to police figures reported on Wednesday, 7 October. The distinction matters: the combined figure of 107 does not mean that all those detained were judicially arrested. Students in French-speaking Belgium are protesting education costs and reforms, as well as conditions in their classrooms.

Al Jazeera, in a report credited to AFP and Reuters, gave the breakdown of 80 people detained and 27 formally arrested, citing the Belga news agency's account of Liège police figures. The totals cover protests over several days, rather than arrests at a single demonstration. The reviewed accounts do not include a directly accessed police arrest record.

What students in French-speaking Belgium are protesting

Students have described overcrowded classrooms and difficulty accessing resources in the French-language education system, Al Jazeera reported. Their objections also concern the cost of education and changes to the system. Those concerns extend beyond the confrontations in Liège: Le Monde reported protests in French-speaking Belgium, including Brussels, and said the high-school movement began on 1 October.

The changes include a plan approved by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation parliament on 5 June to cut €500 million from education spending by 2029, according to Le Monde. The paper put the federation's 2025 education budget at €10.65 billion. The proposed saving is a plan for the years ahead; it does not describe a €500 million cut already made this year.

Tuition is another point of dispute. Le Monde reported student objections to an increase from €835 to €1,194. The official Wallonie-Bruxelles Campus guidance says the maximum annual higher-education tuition fee from the 2025–26 academic year is €1,194 for students from the federation or EU member states. It says charges depend on a student's status; different fees and exemptions apply to some non-EU students.

Students describe their reasons for demonstrating

Amelia Di Salve, a 19-year-old studying to become a teacher, told Reuters, as quoted by Al Jazeera: “When we saw nothing was changing without protests, we decided we would start.” She said the protests in France had influenced students in Belgium somewhat. Another 19-year-old student, identified as Alfred, told Reuters: “We support each other because we’re facing pretty much the same issues.”

Students interviewed by Le Monde described demands specific to French-speaking Belgium, while acknowledging the protests taking place in France. The French-speaking Students' Committee rejected the suggestion that Belgian students were simply following the French movement. Its president, Logan Verhoeven, told Le Monde that students were mobilizing themselves and that the committee offered advice and support.

Arrests, property damage and the official response

Police said some protesters damaged property and set fires, according to Al Jazeera. Le Monde reported vandalism in Liège on Tuesday, including broken windows outside a local school. The reports also describe peaceful demonstrations; the accounts of damage do not establish that every protest or participant was involved in violence.

Education minister Valérie Glatigny condemned violence in a statement published on 2 October while affirming the right to protest, Le Monde reported. The paper also reported her concern that outside radical movements could be using students. Verhoeven criticized what he called a paternalistic view of the demonstrations. Their differing accounts leave the students' stated objections to education policy at the centre of the dispute.

Liège mayor Willy Demeyer told Belgian broadcaster RTBF that dialogue could be established, according to Al Jazeera. He said he hoped young people could express their grievances peacefully and have those concerns heard. That appeal followed days in which demonstrators had assembled over education conditions and police had reported arrests and damage.

What is known about the next steps

Le Monde reported that a student delegation was expected to meet Glatigny on Wednesday afternoon, 7 October. The reporting reviewed here does not establish whether the meeting took place or what it produced. The paper also reported a national demonstration scheduled for Friday, 9 October; that remains a reported plan, not an event that has already happened.