2023-10-04 07:20:00
The situation is unprecedented and would never have been envisaged a year ago: Sweden will deploy the army in its streets to respond to repeated shootings against a backdrop of drug trafficking. Two main rival gangs engage in war mercilessly and during the month of September alone, twelve people were killed, while 261 shootings have broken out since the start of the year.
The army at the port of Antwerp to fight against drug trafficking? The MR is not giving up!
Can a similar deployment be considered in Belgium where the number of shootings is reaching records? The question came back to the table at the start of the year, when Bart De Wever (N-VA) considered this solution to restore calm in Antwerp. He was supported by Deputy Prime Minister MR David Clarinval, federal deputy Denis Ducarme and their party president Georges-Louis Bouchez who had tweeted “requesting the intervention of the army to fight against drugs at the port of Antwerp.”
“Belgium will not fight drug traffickers with flowers or doves.”
A statement still made today by the president of the Brussels MR David Leisterh, while cases of score-settling are increasing, particularly in the capital where 40 murders are still the subject of a judicial investigation. “Belgium will not fight drug traffickers with flowers or doves. If the army can play a useful support role for our police forces for surveillance and logistics at specific locations (port, airport, train stations), It has to be done.”
However, some members of the liberal party are more nuanced, such as Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven, leader of the MR opposition group in Anderlecht, where score-settling regularly takes place. “We must not put the cart before the horse. The priority at this stage is to ensure that the security links work with the local police zones, the federal police, the public prosecutor’s offices, the justice system. I think the army has another vocation than being in the streets. If ever the situation is so exceptional and it requires it, then we will have to think about it.”
Why the fight against cocaine trafficking in the port of Antwerp is a failure
For her part, Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder (PS) had, in January, categorically closed the door to this option, no mandate having been specifically requested by the government. A sentiment shared by the Ecolo, Les Engagés, PTB and Défi parties. “We must strengthen the resources of the competent services: federal judicial police, customs and Justice. Don’t get into mixing genres!”, proclaimed federal MP Sophie Rohonyi (Défi).
A “very symbolic” measure according to Judge Claise
Such a device would also constitute a sort of admission of failure for the federal ministers of the Open VLD, Annelies Verlinden (Interior) and Vincent Van Quickenborne (justice) eight months before the elections. “It is very symbolic to bring the army into the streets, it would mean that we have not succeeded on a strictly police level in tackling the phenomenon,” says investigating judge Michel Claise. I do not think that this solution should be favored as is the case in Sweden. I favor more judicial investigations and the strengthening of police services and the various prosecutors’ offices to fight against money laundering and corruption.”
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