4,500 people march through Brussels in protest against right-wing ideology

More than 4,000 people have marched through Brussels in protest against the political right and racism.

Organised by the Anti-fascist Coordination of Belgium (CAB) the march brought together around 20 social movements and organisations.

It's the second major march in the Belgian capital denouncing the far-right since the EU elections on June 9th which saw right and far-right parties winning big.

"This march is important today to show a message of hope in the face of the messages of despair that the far right wants to bring us," said CAB member Sixtine Van Outryve.

"It's important to show that we're in solidarity with everyone, whatever their nationality, whatever they earn, whatever they do. We stand together and we want a society that doesn't divide us. A society that doesn't exclude, a society that isn't racist or sexist."

"Many of us were shocked by the election results, showing far-right breakthroughs at the European level," Van Outryve said, expressing concern about what she called an "alarming" trend towards the normalisation of far-right discourse.

Right and far-right parties scored big in the EU elections with the most dramatic result coming in France. Marine le Pen’s National Rally took first place in the polls with more than 31% of the vote, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call snap elections.

In Italy, Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy bagged the most votes (28.7%) while in Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) surged to second place, knocking Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats into third.

There were also victories for right-leaning and populist parties in Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Demonstrators in Brussels were keen to show that the rise of the far-right wasn’t "inevitable" and that it was important to confront it by building social and democratic alternatives.

"We're going to show them that young people aren't entirely seduced by far right and that the majority of us continue to fight against their ideas," said a 17-year-old protester called Henri.