At least 15,000 demonstrators marched through Brussels on Saturday in protest at planned job cuts at the Belgian factory of German car maker Volkswagen.
Brussels residents and trade union members from across Europe, including Germany, joined almost the entire 5,000 workforce of the affected plant, shouting "We want jobs", whistling, throwing firecrackers and carrying coffins.
Volkswagen announced two weeks ago it would end manufacture of its top-selling Golf at its plant in Brussels, reducing the workforce to 1,500 from some 5,000. The news prompted a strike.
A deal brokered on Friday by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to bring production of a small new Audi to Brussels and save some 3,000 jobs has softened Belgian anger.
Francis Wurtz, French European parliament member and head of the parliament's left bloc, complained multinationals were making European workers fight each other and accept ever worse conditions.
"If we allow that to happen there will be no social Europe left," he said. Volkswagen will shift production of the Golf to Germany and is demanding Belgian workers boost productivity to ensure they get to make the Audi.
Hubert Gerards, a 50-year-old VW Brussels worker, came dressed as St Nicholas, the white-bearded figure who spawned Santa Claus and who gives presents to Dutch and Belgian children early in December. Police estimated the crowd at the concluding speeches at around 15,000. Organisers said the figure was nearer 25,000.