German auto giant Audi is making headlines after company employees started rioting at a manufacturing plant in Brussels that is slated for closure in the coming days.
Police had to be called to contain the situation after about 150 people, some of them masked, stormed a negotiation room where discussions were being had about a severance plan for union workers at the plant, which will soon be nonoperational.
To keep the negotiation's participants from leaving the premises, protesters began setting off fireworks and causing other disruption. One union member was mildly injured during the melee.
(Related: Did you know that this past July, a new law came into effect in Europe that requires all new cars to automatically reduce engine power the moment a driver starts to speed?)
German economy collapsing after Nord Stream sabotage incident
A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi announced earlier this year that the factory in question will be shuttered as of March 2025. The company was reportedly unable to find new investors, and Volkswagen was unable to come up with a repurposing plan for the site.
As a result, upwards of 3,000 employees and several hundred subcontractors face losing their jobs once the doors close. In support of all these people, around 5,000 locals in Brussels took to the streets back in September to protest.
"We are literally being eaten up and I do not know if we are in a position to do anything about it," an Audi employee told Euronews when this protest happened.
The reason why Audi is having to shutter the plant in the first place is because of a combination of factors that include high energy prices caused by the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline. That sabotage incident cut Germany off at the knees, which means the entirety of Europe is at risk since Germany is the continent's largest economy.
Another factor in Audi's troubles is the growth of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) competition. China produces EVs that are cheaper, both in price and in quality, than the superior vehicles produced by the likes of Audi.
In October, the Volkswagen Group announced that it is closing at least three other plants in Germany while downsizing all of its remaining factories. Thousands more jobs could be lost and entire departments lost or moved abroad.
"It's ONLY because Germany's ally, the U.S., destroyed Germany's access to the cheap energy that was the lifeblood of its economy," one commenter wrote about Audi's woes.
"All is not well in the EU," wrote another. "It looks terminal."
"Europe is toast without Russian energy," added someone else. "This is just a fact!"
The rise of the Global South, i.e., BRICS, appears more imminent than ever with this latest development at Audi. This canary in the coal mine incident only cements the fact that the West is in the throes of a collapse, even if many are blinded with optimism about the new incoming administration.
"All the while, Germany sends warships to China's shores to intimidate and militarily threaten the Chinese even though China was the sole source of growth for the German economy in the last two decades," wrote another.
Someone else suggested that these protesters should do what they are doing when politicians are in session for maximum effect.
"Germany spends way too much money, resources, and manpower on foreign entanglements," wrote another.
"Germany believes in the myths of open borders, such as how poorly educated immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere would provide cheap and good labor for Germany's economy."
As the world economy collapses in seemingly slow motion, companies like Audi are going to continue trimming their ranks to stay afloat. Learn more at Collapse.news.
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