Brussels mayor responds to criticism around demonstration

Federal interior minister Jan Jambon has ordered an investigation into claims that Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur (pictured) ordered police not to go to the assistance of colleagues in difficulties during last Thursday’s anti-government demonstration in Brussels. 

The accusation was made in the Flemish press by anonymous witnesses, who also alleged police were told not to intervene to prevent damage to property. The sources also claimed that Mayeur was absent from the command centre for the duration of the demonstration and that he at one point actually joined the crowd to march together with socialist colleagues. 

The mayor is in charge of the police force and his place was with them, argued Joëlle Milquet, opposition leader in Brussels-City and herself a former interior minister. “I am stunned to hear that the mayor suddenly finds he has no direct role in managing public safety, and that he prefers to push that responsibility off onto the police,” she said in a statement.

Mayeur, meanwhile, has rejected criticism of his conduct during the march. He claimed that operational responsibility lies with the police chief on the scene and described as “unthinkable” that he would issue an order to police to stand down from going to the aid of their colleagues. 

Identifying troublemakers

Some 110 police officers were injured in clashes with marchers during the demonstration, which was organised in protest at the government’s austerity plans. There was also serious property damage with stones thrown through windows and cars being overturned or set on fire.

“We were being attacked for hours,” one anonymous officer told Het Laatste Nieuws at the weekend. “It was a battlefield. The only order we received was to withdraw. That only brought us further under attack. At a certain point, we went against a direct order and used tear gas – but only to prevent things from getting worse.” 

The lion’s share of the damage is being attributed to Antwerp dockworkers who travelled to the capital. The opposition in Brussels-City has also called for better co-operation between the police in the two cities to identify troublemakers and stop them from travelling to future demonstrations.

Jambon also repeated a request to the socialist union ABVV to collaborate with the Brussels prosecutor’s office to identify demonstrators caught by security cameras taking part in vandalism. The Christian union ACV has said it is ready to co-operate, but ABVV rejected an earlier request. Both unions have condemned the violence and destruction.

The third and smallest union, the liberal VSOA, has advised its police members to report sick in time for the next major demonstration. “Without the support of the political authority, which is unable to guarantee safety, it is perfectly possible that officers could suffer such stress that a medical certificate is justified,” the union said in a press release. 

Photo courtesy De Standaard