Brussels mayor apologises for statement about Flanders

During a city council meeting on Monday, Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur publicly apologised for a statement he made about Flanders following the hooligan rally in Brussels. He also commended the police for their work during the incident, writes Brusselnieuws.

About 50 police officers attended the meeting, where they expected to hear an apology from Mayeur. "I said that Flanders had polluted Brussels with extremists," admitted the mayor. "That is, I admit, an unfortunate statement, and a hurtful one, which I sincerely regret."

"My goal was not to stigmatise the entire Flemish population, but to point out the scandalous passivity of the local authorities in Vilvoorde and interior minister Jan Jambon, who allowed hundreds of notoriously violent individuals to enter the city from the train station in Vilvoorde," Mayeur explained.