Belgium: Arrests follow banning of anti-war protest
01 March 1999
141 people were arrested following the banning of an anti-war demonstration in Brussels over Easter. According to participants police officers and gendarmerie used pepper-spray and CS gas against demonstrators before they had reached the centre of Brussels. It later emerged that the ban was itself illegal. The decision by the mayor had ignored an injunction against the ban given by the Belgian supreme court.
The demonstration, organised by pacifist and left-wing groups to protest at the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia, was banned by the mayor of Brussels on the morning of April 3, following a general ban on all demonstrations. Most of those arrested were picked up whilst on their way to the assembly point. Police used tear gas as well as pepper-spray to drive people off the coaches they had hired to take them to the demonstration.
A Solidair journalist, Michel Collon, was so badly beaten that on arrival in hospital he was found to have four broken ribs, a collapsed lung, concussion and broken knees, as well as bruises around the stomach and genitalia. Other victims had injuries that included a broken shoulder while many people suffered from the effects of pepper-sprays and CS gas. A-13 year old girl, held on a coach on her way to the demonstration from Liege, was pepper-sprayed in the face then later strip-searched at the police station.
Solidair 7.4.99.