Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Schuman Roundabout in Brussels on June 28 to protest a high-profile US Independence Day celebration taking place nearby at the Parc du Cinquantenaire.
The protest, organised by Indivisible Belgium together with Extinction Rebellion, Rise for Climate and other activist groups, unfolded a short distance from the heavily secured park, where the US Embassy in Belgium was hosting celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The invitation-only event, billed by the embassy as “250 Years of Independence: Building Our Future Together”, drew several thousand guests, among them Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The festivities featured baseball, line dancing and live music, a military flypast and a drone and fireworks display to close the evening.
Built in 1880 to mark the 50th anniversary of Belgian independence, the Parc du Cinquantenaire sits in the European Quarter, close to the EU institutions and NATO headquarters, and usually hosts Belgium’s own National Day on July 21.
Protesters chanted “Hands off Cinquantenaire” as they marched the short route to the park and gathered behind police barriers separating them from the event. Another recurring chant targeted US Ambassador Bill White, with demonstrators repeatedly shouting, “Bill White’s got to go.”
Others sang the Chilean protest anthem El pueblo unido jamás será vencido (“The people united will never be defeated”), while applause, drumming and music punctuated the afternoon.
Protest signs reflected anger at both the Trump administration and broader US foreign policy. Some read “Fuck Trump”, while another declared: “United States: 250 years of war and oppression.”
Despite temperatures climbing during an ongoing European heatwave that the World Health Organisation has linked to at least 1,300 heat-related deaths across the continent, protesters remained energetic throughout the afternoon, clapping, dancing and cheering between speeches delivered in both English and French.
“We’re here for many reasons, but all in complete agreement that this party behind us should never have been allowed to happen,” one organiser from Indivisible Belgium told the crowd, gesturing towards the celebration taking place beyond the police cordon.
The speaker described the embassy event as “a stain on our city and an insult to all of us living in Belgium”, saying activists from Belgium, Palestine, Iran, Mexico, Cuba and the United States had come together to oppose it.
Addressing demonstrators, the organiser argued the anniversary celebrations had been turned into a political event aligned with US President Donald Trump rather than a celebration of American people and culture.
“This party was never for us,” the speaker said. “It’s not about celebrating community, people, culture from the States. It’s not about us living in Belgium.”
The speech also criticised Ambassador White, accusing him of representing Trump’s political agenda in Belgium and alleging that the event excluded US citizens critical of the US president. White, a Trump appointee confirmed to the post in October 2025, has repeatedly clashed with the Belgian government, which earlier this year accused him of “dangerous disinformation” after he publicly criticised Belgian court proceedings against Jewish circumcisers.
Throughout the demonstration, speakers linked their opposition to the celebration with wider concerns over climate change, US military interventions, the war in Gaza, Cuba and the rise of what several described as “authoritarian politics”.
The demonstration followed weeks of criticism over Brussels’ decision to host what the US Embassy has described as “the largest Fourth of July celebration outside the United States”. Much of the local opposition focused less on the United States itself than on the multi-day closure of one of the city’s biggest public parks, which neighbourhood associations said amounted to the “privatisation” of a public space.
Brussels Mayor Philippe Close has defended authorising the celebration, arguing that allowing countries to organise national celebrations in the Belgian capital does not amount to endorsing their governments’ policies. He has also stressed that the celebration was “first and foremost, the anniversary of a country and not of a person”.
Police maintained a small but visible presence throughout the protest, with barriers keeping demonstrators separated from guests attending the embassy event.
Earlier the same day, six Greenpeace activists unfurled a 600-square-metre banner reading “War. Greed. Energy Crisis. What’s there to celebrate?” on the Grand-Place in central Brussels. Greenpeace Belgium spokeswoman Nadia Cornejo said it was “shameful” for Belgian authorities to “roll out the red carpet” for the Trump administration during the heatwave, accusing Washington of fuelling the global energy crisis through its drive for energy “domination”.
