(VOVworld) - More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Brussels on Friday to rally against painful austerity measures and the upcoming Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement.

Belgian people demonstrated to protest the austerity and a EU-US free trade deal (Photo: AFP)

The demonstrations brought together farmers, trade unionists and environmentalists. The D19-20 Alliance, which organized the demonstration, represents not only Belgian organizations but French, Dutch, and German ones as well. The Alliance is worried that the free trade agreement between the EU and the US will increase these inequalities and give American businesses too much power over European governments to the detriment of their citizens. Rudy Janssens, a senior official with Belgian socialist union CGSP, said the TTIP will turn people into "merchandise” and medical patients into customers, a typical US model.