A year ago, nearly 250 demonstrators were arrested and detained for several hours by the police in Brussels. Among them were several minors. Some accuse the police of assaulting and insulting them. Their parents organized a demonstration this Saturday. A year later, the case seems bogged down and no sanction has been pronounced against the agents involved.
On the stage set up in Brussels this Saturday, Simon and his friends are moved. Some even hesitated to come, because the memory of the arrest is too painful. “Our story is a drop in the ocean of police blunders that happen all too regularly and go unpunished.“, he declares in front of the crowd.
245 people arrested including 91 minors
On January 24, 2021, a hundred people took part in a demonstration against class justice.
The gathering is authorized for 45 minutes, before the police proceed to the arrests. The police then arrested 245 people, including 91 minors. They were taken to police barracks in Etterbeek.
The following days, several young people denounced racism and violence on the part of certain police officers. “The police beat quite a few people, including me. Then I walked out of there crying, there were people bleeding“, says Pirly today. “I had become, according to the statements of the police, a dirty whore, a slut, someone who has nothing to say and no right“, denounces Alexander.
This kind of sexist insults are also reported by women prisoners in another part of the building. “We stank because we were women. It stank the woman“, describes Emilie.
The violent police officers have been identified… but the case drags on
About twenty complaints have been filed with the prosecution and the P committee.”The young people were interviewed by the police. Violent police officers were identified, and non-violent police officers denounced their colleagues. So we have everything, but yet the case is dragging on, we don’t understand why“, explains Selma Benkhelifa, lawyer for several plaintiffs.
The victims and their parents have a feeling of impunity towards these police officers. “We have the feeling of being bogged down. One gets the impression that the police hierarchy is afraid to confront the violent policemen. What we have as a conviction is that we citizens must shed light on such a serious situation and try to move the lines“, indicates Alexandre Pycke, father of a victim of police violence.
In 2020, Committee P received 3,112 complaints. In 70% of cases, the police oversight body considers that there has been no malfunction on the part of the police.