Anti-sanitary pass or anti-vax activists, Anglo-Saxon conspirators, French “yellow vests”, Flemish ultranationalists, religious groups, defenders of freedoms and Dutch veterans in fatigues supposed to provide order: tens of thousands of people marched on Sunday January 23, in Brussels, to protest against the measures intended to stem the Covid-19 epidemic.
This is the fifth parade of this kind that took place in the Belgian capital in the space of two months. It was the most massive, the organizers having succeeded in bringing together, this time, delegations from all over Europe. French flags and many countries were visible in the procession, alongside Belgian banners or those of extremists of the Flemish right. Members of neo-Nazi groups also marched alongside elderly people who said they were worried about the consequences of vaccination for their grandchildren.
The slogans and demands were just as diverse: “European Commission, organized criminal network”, “Faced with the Europe of capital, long live the International”, “Le passe, on s’en pass!” », « No to Soros », etc.
“It was brute force”
At the origin of this parade which would have gathered 50,000 people according to the police, almost ten times more according to the organizers: the movements World Wide Demonstration (World demonstration) and Europeans United for Freedom (Europeans united for freedom), which affirms bringing together citizens from all walks of life, including scientists and doctors. saying “don’t deny the existence of diseases”, he asks “policies based on the principles of the democratic rule of law” and “an open social debate”.
On their website, the organizers write: “We are afraid of the police (…) and a healthy dose of fear and loathing for any form of violence. (…) However, we realize that we are gradually sliding towards a totalitarian state that threatens to become more radicalized and increasingly destructive. » On Monday, the movement intended to launch a petition demanding the resignation of the Belgian government.
The violence, which had already been expressed in previous episodes, has, in any case, exploded at the end of the parade. In the early afternoon, thugs clashed with the police in the European district of the city and the nearby Parc du Cinquantenaire. Many windows, including those of the European External Action Service, were smashed; torn panels; protective barriers thrown at police officers, who sometimes had to take refuge in the corridors of the metro.
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