Belgium

[Stewart Meadows]

Thousands March in Brussels Against ‘Draconian and Irrational’ COVID Rules




PETER CADDLE 11 Jan 2022

Thousands of people took to the streets of Brussels on Sunday to protest lockdown rules, described by one MEP as ‘draconian and irrational’

A rally against COVID restrictions in Brussels attracted thousands of participants on Sunday, many of whom called for Belgium’s government to repeal the country’s various COVID cert requirements.

“Samen voor Vrijheid” (‘Together for Freedom’), the organisation behind the rally, had called on “anyone who senses that something is not right” to attend the protest.

According to a report by the Brussels Times, police put the number of attendees at the rally at around 5,000, though organisers reportedly cited a larger figure of 25,000.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/202...l-covid-rules/

[Stewart Meadows]

Trafficker Linked to 15 Dead Migrants in Back of Lorry Jailed




NATHANIEL CHARLES 19 Jan 2022

A Belgian court has jailed the leader of a trafficking operation responsible for the death of at least 15 migrants who were found dead in the back of a lorry on an English industrial estate.

The Bruges court found Vo Van Hong, 45, guilty of running a people-trafficking operation that was responsible for smuggling at least 15 of the 39 migrants – aged 15-44 – found dead in an industrial park East of London and jailed him for 15 years.

31 men and eight women all of Vietnamese origin were found dead in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Grays industrial park after the driver Maurice Robinson opened the sealed container to check on them in October 2019. The lorry had smuggled the migrants from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to England.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/202...-lorry-jailed/

[alex revision]

[Stewart Meadows]

'We are just tired': Belgian teachers protest working conditions and financial cuts


By Alberto De Filippis • Updated: 11/02/2022

After two years of school closures and government-imposed COVID measures, thousands of Belgium's Francophone teachers and school staff took to the streets of Brussels on Tuesday to protest working conditions and financial cuts.

According to them, oversized classes, school buildings in urgent need of repair, and general staff shortages are all contributing to overall frustration. The pandemic just worsened an already existing problem.

The teachers are tired and say they cannot take it anymore.

"We give everything to our students. We do everything on a computer. We try to deal with questions, absences, illnesses, but we are just tired," one teacher at the protest told Euronews.

https://www.euronews.com/2022/02/10/...financial-cuts

[alex revision]

Call for Brussels statue to be melted and made into memorial for Congo victims

Mon 21 Feb 2022

A bronze statue of 19th-century Belgian king Léopold II in the centre of Brussels could be melted down and turned into a monument to the millions who died during his brutal rule of the Belgian Congo and other victims of colonialism, an expert group has suggested.

The group of historians, architects and other specialists, commissioned by the Brussels regional government, also suggests a second option for the Léopold II bronze: creating an open-air statue park to house the equestrian work, along with other controversial monuments to figures of the colonial past.

The two scenarios were proposed in a 256-page report on the “decolonisation” of public space in the Belgian capital, which was commissioned by Brussels after Black Lives Matter protests swept across the city in 2020.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-congo-victims

[Stewart Meadows]

Belgium says to deploy 300 troops in Romania, send machine guns to Ukraine


Reuters
February 26, 2022

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Belgium will deploy 300 troops in Romania as part of NATO efforts to strengthen its eastern flank, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Saturday, as Russia pounded Ukrainian cities with artillery and cruise missiles for a third day.

"Belgium assumes its responsibility within NATO Rapid Response, of which elements were activated yesterday. In the current phase, 300 Belgian soldiers will be deployed in Romania," he said on Twitter.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ne-2022-02-26/

[Stewart Meadows]

Belgium freezes Russian assets to the sum of €10 billion


Sunday, 13 March 2022



Belgium’s Treasury Department has frozen some €10 billion in Russian assets in the past two weeks, according to figures from the Finance Department computed by L’Echo and De Tijd.

The amount includes €2.7 billion frozen in bank accounts and €7.3 billion in frozen transactions, Belga News Agency reports.

This is a huge increase on the €25.5 million that the Treasury had frozen up to 10 days ago.

Assets include those of Putin himself

The consolidated list of targeted individuals and institutions has been made public and comprises 759 names, including those of businesspeople, politicians, top military officials, bankers and Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgiu...of-e10-billion

[Stewart Meadows]

Belgian companies refuse to leave Russia


Saturday, 19 March 2022



La Lorraine is one of many companies whose activities in Russia have been significantly impacted. Credit: LLBG

Most of the approximately 250 Belgian businesses with premises in Russia refuse to leave the country, L’Echo reported on Saturday. However, this should not be misconstrued as them supporting Russia’s brutal offensive in Ukraine.

Many of the companies that have chosen to stay in Russia have cited reasons of solidarity with their Russian colleagues and clients. L’Echo calculates that the total value of these business partnerships totals several billion euros.

In 2021, Belgian companies invested €1.5 billion in Russia; in the same year, 1556 Belgian businesses exported a combined total of €3.4 billion of goods to Russia.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/busine...o-leave-russia

[Stewart Meadows]

Six killed after car drives into crowd in Belgium


Published 26 minutes ago



At least six people have been killed after a car drove into a crowd of carnival-goers in southern Belgium.

The incident happened in the small town of Strépy-Bracquegnies, about 30 miles (50km) south of the capital Brussels.

The car drove at high-speed into dozens of people who were preparing to take part in a traditional parade on Sunday morning.

Around 40 people were injured and several are in a serious condition, the town's mayor said.

"There were about 150-200 people who were following the parade and [the] car arrived from behind and drove into the crowd," Jacques Gobert said.

"It continued for another 100m (328ft)," he added. "It should be considered a national catastrophe."

The exact circumstances of the attack are being investigated, but police said a terror attack had been ruled out.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60811591

[alex revision]

Belgian car shop owner won’t serve Jews, claims Israel supports Russia

Denying service to individuals based on their faith, race or sexual orientation is illegal in Belgium.

13 april 2022

The owner of a car repair shop in Belgium said he will not serve Jewish clients to protest Israel’s position over Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The Forum of Jewish Organizations, a group representing Flemish-speaking Belgian Jews, said it will take legal action against Ludo Eyckmans, the owner of the shop in Stabroek near Antwerp. Denying service to individuals based on their faith, race or sexual orientation is illegal in Belgium.

“As of today, our Jewish clients are no longer welcome for maintenance of their cars or solving electronic problems,” Eyckmans wrote in an email that he sent to Belgian media last week, according to the Jewish group. He cited Israel’s “failure to recognize war crimes” by Russia’s army in Ukraine.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antis...article-703994

[alex revision]

Le buste de l’ancien bourgmestre Roger Nols au centre des débats à Schaerbeek

La question de savoir s'il faut retirer le buste de Roger Nols de la maison communale de Schaerbeek appartient aux Schaerbeekois, ont conclu les historiens Serge Jaumain (ULB) et Joost Vaesen (VUB) dans une étude publiée lundi par les Brussels Studies. A leurs yeux, elle implique un vaste débat public prenant en compte le contexte historique qu'ils ont présenté, mais aussi la diversité des opinions possibles sur un tel thème.

02-05-22

Les bustes des différents bourgmestres ornent le grand hall de la maison communale de Schaerbeek, l'imposant édifice de style néo-renaissance sis place Collignon. Parmi eux, se trouvent celui de Roger Nols qui a présidé aux destinées de la Cité des ânes de 1970 à 1989. L'homme est décédé en 2004, mais l'image qu'il a laissée de lui reste vivace. En 2017, le Mouvement pour le Racisme, l'Antisémitisme et la Xénophobie (MRAX) a réclamé le retrait du buste.

Polémiques

La commune a commandé un travail historique sur ce personnage passé à l'extrême-droite durant sa carrière et qui a suscité régulièrement la polémique, que ce soit par les guichets séparés qu'il voulut imposer pour les néerlandophones et les populations étrangères, son arrivée à dos de chameau à la Maison communale ou son invitation du leader du Front national français, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Popularité

L'étude retrace le parcours de l'ancien bourgmestre et le contexte de mutation de Schaerbeek dans lequel il a accompli son mandat. Malgré le tollé qui a accompagné ses initiatives, l'homme conserva une grande popularité et, dans le même temps, entraîna par réaction une grande vitalité associative.

La question “nécessite un vaste débat public”

"La réponse à cette question, apparemment très simple, 'faut-il déboulonner le buste de Roger Nols?' appartient aux Schaerbeekoises et aux Schaerbeekois. Elle nécessite un vaste débat public qui, pour être mené sereinement, doit prendre en compte le contexte historique présenté ici mais aussi la diversité des options possibles quant à l'avenir des symboles contestés qui peuplent nos espaces publics", concluent MM. Jaumain et Vaesen.

Le débat sur des symboles contestés dans l'espace public refait régulièrement surface depuis quelques années dans de nombreux pays, notamment la Belgique. En mars, un groupe de travail bruxellois sur les symboles de la décolonisation a proposé de retirer la statue équestre de Léopold II, érigée place du Trône.

Un groupe de travail sera mis en place

Un groupe de travail sera mis en place afin de “proposer au conseil (communal) des pistes de réflexion pour le devenir du buste de Roger Nols, sans nier la réalité historique ni exacerber la polarisation stérile”, a indiqué lundi en fin de journée Cécile Jodogne (DéFI), actuelle bourgmestre faisant fonction de Schaerbeek, en réaction à la publication en ligne dans la revue scientifique Brussels Studies d’une étude concluant à la nécessité d’un débat populaire sur l’avenir du buste de l’ancien maïeur schaerbeekois (en fonction de 1970 à 1988).

Une conférence de presse sera organisée dans les prochaines semaines. Celle-ci visera à “informer le plus largement possible et mettre en place un groupe de travail avec les personnes intéressées, citoyens, experts ou politiques”, a-t-elle souligné.

Ne pas oublier

C’est la commune de Schaerbeek qui avait demandé la réalisation de cette étude à des universitaires à la suite d’une interpellation du conseil communal en octobre 2017 par le Mouvement pour le Racisme, l’Antisémitisme et la Xénophobie (MRAX), qui demandait le retrait du buste du grand hall de l’hôtel communal.

Cette solution, jugée très radicale, n’est pas souhaitée par les autorités communales. “Il est vrai que, pour certains d’entre nous, les souvenirs de l’affaire des guichets séparés (1971 - 1975) ou son arrivée en chameau sur le parvis de l’hôtel communal (1986) restent présents”, a observé Bernard Clerfayt, bourgmestre en fonction en 2017. “Le travail de Serge Jaumain (Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB) et Joost Vaesen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB) nous oblige à nous rappeler que Roger Nols a effectué quatre mandats successifs à la tête de Schaerbeek, chaque fois avec des scores électoraux plus que significatifs ! Enlever le buste de Roger Nols sans le contextualiser dans son époque, c’est prendre le risque d’oublier cette période de notre histoire et nous savons qu’oublier, c’est permettre que cela se reproduise”, a-t-il conclu.

https://www.7sur7.be/belgique/le-bus...VDfDUnkeQ1uQ-X

[Stewart Meadows]

31 May, 2022 10:43 Home Russia & FSU

EU country calls for ‘pause’ in anti-Russia sanctions


Belgium’s PM has urged the bloc to assess the impact of existing measures before engaging in further discussions

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has welcomed the EU agreement on a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow but called for a “pause” until the impact of the measures is known.

Earlier on Tuesday, EU Council President Charles Michel confirmed that the bloc’s member states had agreed in principle a sixth round of anti-Russia sanctions, which include a partial embargo on Russian oil. The sanctions are being imposed in response to Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists ahead of day two of the EU summit in Brussels, De Croo said the impact of oil sanctions would be “enormous” and thus “a pause” is needed.

https://www.rt.com/russia/556377-bel...-pause-impact/

[Stewart Meadows]

Belgian lawmakers scrap bill to ban kosher, halal slaughter in Brussels


BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ JUNE 17, 2022 4:11 PM

(JTA) — Belgian promoters of a ban on kosher and halal slaughter of animals saw their bill defeated in Brussels, the seat of the European Union and the only region of Belgium where the practice is still legal.

The vote Friday in the parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region — one of three states that comprise the federal kingdom of Belgium — was on whether to scrap a bill proposing a ban. The bill, submitted by liberal and environmentally-centered parties, had been voted down in a committee that kicked it back to parliament.

Out of the 89 lawmakers in the region’s parliament, 42 voted in favor of scrapping, 38 voted against scrapping, eight abstained and one was not present, preserving for now the legality of kosher and halal slaughter in Brussels, the news site 7sur7 reported.

https://www.jta.org/2022/06/17/globa...er-in-brussels

[U. Dunrouse]

Originally Posted by Stewart Meadows

https://www.jta.org/2022/06/17/globa...er-in-brussels

Another deliberately-misleading big Jewish distortion!!

Not a bill to ban kosher and halal slaughter. Just a bill to ban the slaughter of animals without stunning them first, i.e. a bill to ban the cruel throat-cutting of fully-aware animals.

Not a victory for religious freedom, not "a basic civil rights issue" as Jewish media deceptively claim. Rather a victory for the continuation of Semitic cruelty to animals.


Always the same tricks...

https://www.bitchute.com/video/ZlMVhELySN7R/

https://www.bitchute.com/video/ITQwac5dC9F1/


Belgium's leaders are Jew-owned lackeys who would never restrict the actions of their masters. Claiming otherwise is ridiculous.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/vOq1u4HDUz1Z/

[alex revision]

Colonial statue of Émile Storms removed from Ixelles

Thursday, 30 June 2022

A statue to Lieutenant-General Émile Storms, one of Belgium’s early colonial elite, was dismantled on Thursday morning, being hoisted by a crane off its pedestal.

The removal of the statue follows pressure from the Mayor of Ixelles, Christos Doulkeridis, and anti-racist activists under the popular Black Lives Matter slogan and movement. The statue was repeatedly vandalised by anti-racism activists, often in a show of popular defiance against the old symbols of the colonial system.

“It would be a mistake to unbolt everything, but it would also be a mistake not to unbolt anything,” the mayor told Belgian broadcaster RTBF. “Here we remove the bust of a sulphurous personality who is only known because he was particularly barbaric, who cut off heads. He no longer has his place on the pedestal on which he had been put.”

Storms was one of the founding figures of the Congo Free State. In 1882-1885, he established a European presence in and around Lake Tanganyika and supported the creation of Roman Catholic missionary posts. He is also known for attempting to crush the East African slave trade.

The colonial general, however, left behind an infamous reputation as a colonialist and brutal commander. Mireille-Tsheusi Robert, president of anti-racism non-profit Bamko, says that the general routinely beheaded village chiefs to steal their riches.

The location of the statue is also problematic, situated not far from Matongé, an area of Brussels famous for its vibrant Congolese community, many of whom still suffer from the repercussions of Belgian colonialism.

The statue will likely be transferred to either the Royal Museum of Fine Arts or the Museum of Ixelles, pending an official decision by Ixelles authorities.

“We are responsible for the story that we wish to promote and offer to future generations. Today, on this symbolic day of the 62nd anniversary of Congo’s independence, Belgium is ready to look at its past with lucidity,” added the local mayor.

Anti-colonial campaigners marked the removal of the statue as a success for their movement. “It’s an important act,” explained Aliou Baldé of the Colonial Memory collective. “It proves that the public authorities are listening. For us, this is the culmination of a battle. But not yet of the decolonisation war, which will continue.”

Belgium’s colonial past is being increasingly put under the spotlight by the Vivaldi government and the Belgian monarchy. In a royal visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), King Phillipe, alongside Queen Mathilde and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, expressed their “deep regrets for the system of exploitation and racism” which occurred during colonial times.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/247641...d-from-ixelles

[alex revision]

Brussels Parliament wants 8 May to be legal and paid holiday

Sunday, 3 July 2022

In a resolution adopted on Friday, the Brussels Parliament calls for May 8 to be a legal and paid public holiday. In addition to the Iris Festival, Brussels also celebrates the Allied victory over Nazi Germany on that day.

May 8 has not been a paid public holiday in Belgium since 1974, despite its historical and symbolic significance. May 8, 1945 marked the end of the Second World War and the Brussels Region decided in 2003 to make May 8 its public holiday.

The region’s Parliament has now put forward a resolution to make May 8 a legal and paid holiday. After all, the federal government stated in its policy statement that the federal states can turn their public holiday into a paid public holiday without additional budgetary costs.

Now that the proposal has been approved by the Parliament, the Brussels government can start the discussion at the federal level.

“It can go two ways,” explains liberal Open VLD spokesperson Frederik Ceulemans. “Either the federal government follows its coalition agreement and determines the rules at the federal level within which the federal states can organise their own public holiday, or the federal government goes all out and makes 8 May a national legal holiday straight away.”

Federal Minister of Work and Economy, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, would be in favour of the latter. “Whether 8 May becomes an extra-legal holiday or replaces an existing one will also have to be considered at the federal level and in consultation with the social partners,” Ceulemans said.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/248856...d-paid-holiday

[Stewart Meadows]

July 6, 2022 2:11 PM GMT+2 Last Updated 16 hours ago

Belgium provisionally clears contentious Iran prisoner swap treaty


By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, July 6 (Reuters) - Belgian lawmakers gave initial clearance on Wednesday to a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of planning to bomb a rally of an exiled opposition group.

The foreign relations committee of Belgium's lower house debated the treaty for more than six hours over two days before finally approving it.

The measure still needs to be put before the full 150-member lower house of parliament, most likely in the next two weeks, but the chamber normally follows votes of its committees, given they have similar party compositions.

The prisoner exchange might secure the release of a Belgian aid worker who was detained in Iran in February and could help Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who has taught in Belgium and been sentenced to death in Iran.

Iran has called for the release of Assadollah Assadi, sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium in 2021 over a foiled 2018 bomb plot. His was the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in Europe since Iran's 1979 revolution.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle...ty-2022-07-06/

[alex revision]

Belgium prepares plan to combat racism in civil service

Thursday, 14 July 2022

A plan to fight racism and increase diversity in the civil service will be adopted on Friday by the Council of Ministers, announced Minister of the Civil Service Petra De Sutter and State Secretary for Equal Opportunities Sarah Schlitz.

The move comes after figures by Belgium’s statistical office Statbel revealed that the civil service is low on diversity: just 12.5% of federal civil servants are citizens with non-European origins, and only 7% of those with non-European origins hold a master’s degree.

Among federal staff with a secondary school diploma, the figure drops to 6.3%. The largest number of civil servants from a non-European country (9%) is found among those who had lower secondary education or no diploma.

Action plan

Around €300,000 will be allocated to combatting discrimination and racism and promoting diversity in the public service. De Sutter and Schlitz want to focus on measuring, preventing and remedying.

First, they want a study to determine the obstacles that people of non-European origin encounter during the selection process. A survey to establish the image of federal administrations, as an employer, with these people will also be launched.

Federal public authorities will then use the data to develop new diversity and action plans, as well as organise regular training and awareness campaigns to make people aware of prejudice. Civil servants will get anti-discrimination training and welfare legislation to be better informed of their rights and obligations.

To promote diversity within their staff, diversity plans will be required to show quantified objectives, actions and reports of discrimination to Unia, the Interfederal Center for Equal Opportunities.

Administrations will be mandated to appoint reference officials in their international operations, who are responsible for implementing these plans.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgiu...-civil-service

[alex revision]

'Like we are in Congo': Liberal leader of MR called out for trivialising racism

Tuesday, 9 August 2022

A campaign video for the Francophone liberal MR party, posted by its leader Georges-Louis Bouchez on social media, has put the party at the centre of another political controversy, as the video includes racist remarks that are at no point contradicted by Bouchez.

In the video, Bouchez talks to people on the street and answers their questions. The first frames of the two-minute clip, however, show a woman making racist and insulting comments about the Brussels population, without any context given.

"For a foreigner who comes from any country and who comes to the capital of Brussels, I would say that it looks like we are in Congo," she said. "But if you go further out, to Flanders, the law is the law."

https://www.brusselstimes.com/269457...alising-racism

[Stewart Meadows]

Around 40% of Belgians risk falling below the poverty line, says economist


Tuesday, 6 September 2022



Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Credit: Belga/Laurie Dieffembacq

Around 40% of the Belgian population risks falling below the poverty line," according to economist Bruno Colmant when speaking to TL-TVI and reported by L'Echo on Tuesday.

The risk of poverty is calculated when the total net income of a household falls below 60% of the median net income.

In 2021, it was €15,443 net per year, or €1,287 euros net per month for a single person, or €32,430 net per year or €2,703 net per month for a household of two adults and two children.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/econom...says-economist