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Democracy Belgian Style
11/01/2007 :: On September 11, the Brussels police beat up a peaceful demonstration in front of the European Commission headquarters. The demonstrators protested against the islamization of Europe and intended to hold one minute of silence for the victims of the 2001 9/11 terror attacks in America. The demonstration, organized by an international group, had been prohibited by Freddy Thielemans, the Socialist mayor of Brussels. The mayor argued that the demonstration would upset the many Muslim immigrants that live in Brussels.
Many demonstrators were maltreated by the police officers, including several members of the European and Belgian parliaments. Amongst those arrested were an Italian and a French member of the European Parliament. Frank Vanhecke, the leader of Vlaams Belang (VB), who is also a member of the European Parliament, was subjected by the police to a vicious genital grip, which as Diana West, a Jewish American newspaper columnist who knows Mr Vanhecke personally, wrote “would get any American policeman thrown off the force.”
Goedele Devroy, a journalist of the Belgian public television, said she was amazed by the brutality of the police against the peaceful demonstrators “who were just standing there.” Vladimir Palko, a leading Christian-Democrat politician and former Interior Minister of Slovakia, wrote to the Belgian authorities to express his indignation at the violence, which reminded him of the former Communist dictatorship in his own country.
Bra
Video footage shows how Mr. Vanhecke, when being arrested and forced into a police bus, asks “What is happening in Brussels today, is this democracy? Is this freedom of speech?” whereupon the policemen drag him off the bus, saying “Haven’t you finished yet? This is not a political platform here.” They throw him on the ground, start beating him up, tie his hands behind his back, kick him in the kidneys and grab him in his private parts.
Filip Dewinter, the group leader of the VB in the Flemish Regional Parliament, was beaten up. The police dragged him away while he was giving an interview to journalists a few yards from the demonstration.
Linda Vissers, a VB member of the Belgian House of Representatives, was also arrested. In prison she was forced to take off her bra in front of the police officers, allegedly to prevent her from “hanging herself with her bra while in jail.”
No apology
The demonstrators were released after having been kept in cells for eight hours. Among those arrested were a woman with an Israeli flag and a German carrying a small wooden cross.
Following the police brutalities, Franco Frattini, the (Italian) European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, admonished the Belgian authorities that democracies should only ban demonstrations when the latter incite to violence or glorify Nazism. The Belgian government formally apologized to Italy for maltreating an Italian member of the European Parliament. The Belgian authorities, however, did not apologize to Mr Vanhecke or to the other demonstrators.
Article in issue nº 20
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