- Daily & Weekly newsletters
- Buy & download The Bulletin
- Comment on our articles
Related articles
Recent
Popular
Brussels mayor questions police chief about arrest of leftist protesters
Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur (pictured) will interrogate the city's police chief about the 99 administrative arrests made in front of the Bourse on Saturday, because the mayor suspects that the agents acted too strictly, write De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad. Hundreds of leftist protesters gathered in the city centre on Saturday despite a ban on demonstrations, which was intended to keep out only far-right groups, according to Mayeur.
The Brussels police defended the arrests, claiming that “the ban applied to all events and gatherings having to do with the terror attacks on 22 March," police spokesperson Christian De Coninck told the newspapers. "Of the 140 people arrested in Brussels and Molenbeek, about 60% were from the extreme left."
The leftist protestors came to Brussels and Molenbeek with an anti-racism message in a counter-demonstration against the far-right protesters who gathered to spread messages against Islam.
Comments
Mayor Mayeur's reaction is hardly surprising. Kudos to the police chief for applying the ban "to all events and gatherings having to do with the terror attacks on 22 March". Mayeur's attempt to interpret the ban as he sees fit is a symptom of one of the things that is very wrong in Belgium. Imo of course.
I.e. as he sees politically fit.
The hooligans should not have got passed the Vilvoorde train station. The police were waiting for these troublemakers so the police knew ahead there would be problems. Why were the hooligans allowed to move into town? I hope BXL has facial recognition technology so they can track these hooligans. The mayor saying the police were "too strict" is condoning the hooligan behavior. We should be supporting the police and not spitting on them.