Thousands attend 'Great Anger' march in Brussels

More than 5,000 people joined a far-left PTB/PVDA party demonstration in central Brussels on Sunday to express "anger" at Belgium's political elite.

According to police estimates, the march attracted 5,550 participants. The organisers put the figure at closer to 10,000.

The "Great Anger" demonstration brought together groups from both sides of the Belgian language divide, including women's rights activists, medical staff and retired people calling for better pension rights.

The march comes as Belgium struggles to form a federal government, nine months after elections.

PTB president Peter Mertens said that his party had not been invited once to join the negotiations over the federal government formation.

"The problem is not with our country, but its way of doing politics," he said.

Party spokesman Raoul Hedebouw added: "We won seats in each of the three regions of this country. We have things to propose."

One of the signs on display read: "Flemish, Walloons, Brusseleir - our unity has only one voice."