Activists disrupt police recruitment event, Brussels

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Sunday October 03, 2010 22:10 by anonymous

On Saturday 2nd October three activists disrupted a police recruitment event in Commensurate Ixelles, Brussels, following a week of harassment at the Brussels No Border camp. The public event was well attended and the activist took this opportunity to ask some questions of their own.

Serious concerns were raised about the abusive, sexist, psychotic and corrupt behavior of the police in Brussels, the supposed capital of Europe. This is particularly shocking given Belgium is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

One of the activists speaking at the event had earlier that week been arrested getting on a bus for the way he looked. He was kept for 24 hours on a fake assault charge, humiliated and his wallet and passport were illegally ‘lost’. Other questions at the event highlighted the sexual abuse of a number of women in Brussels by the police that week.

The activists after highlighting these issues were dragged out by flustered police in front of a shocked audience. They were held under administrative detention for over 8 hours without food or water. Their dictaphone was also taken and its memory erased.

Two were released after 8 hours. On demanding to question why their friend remained in detention, they were threatened with arrest and literally chased out of the station by an aggressive police officer. After 10 and half hours of detention the last activist was released.