Brussels Finance Minister Sven Gatz's response to the Vlaams Belang demonstration in Brussels immediately went viral on Monday after saying that supporters of the far-right party were not welcome in the Belgian capital city.
Vlaams Belang's so-called "protest meeting" received much media attention after Brussels City Mayor Philippe Close initially banned it from taking place, but was later overruled by the Council of State. In a Tweet (written in old Flemish), Gatz made it clear he did not want the rally happening.
"Dear scum, you are not welcome here. Brussels is everything you are not. This city is free, open and of the world. Go elsewhere to wave your flags and make a fuss. You have no business here. Return to your village," he said.
Gatz's tweet went viral almost immediately, as supporters and opponents were quick to react to his words. The dean of the Ghent University (UGent) Rik Van de Walle, for example, replied that Gatz does "not help anyone or anything with this, perhaps with the exception of what you rightly combat: intolerance."
Vlaams Belang leader Tom Van Grieken took the opportunity to address Egbert Lachaert, the chair of the Flemish liberal Open VLD party (of which Gatz is a member) to ask if he considered it okay that "his minister dismissed 800,000 voters as scum."
Not sugarcoating fascism
While many (far-)right MPs and supporters were quick to call Gatz's word choice "scandalous" and several called on the minister not to lower himself to Vlaams Belang's level, numerous others – including virologist Marc Van Ranst and Brussels MP for Groen Juan Benjumea – pointed out that the minister did nothing that the far-right has not done themselves.
While Van Ranst tweeted a collection of numerous screenshotted tweets by Vlaams Belang MPs using the word "scum" when referring to leftwing politicians and immigrants, Benjumea stated how much he appreciated Gatz's clear message.
"A hundred times more respect for 'impolite' politicians who speak plainly and do not sugarcoat neo-Nazis and fascists than for 'polite' ones who have been dancing to the tune of the extreme right for thirty years and give them free rein," he said.
In the meantime, Gatz told Bruzz that while he is generally known as nuanced and moderate, "people must also dare to say it like it is when it comes to the extreme right" and that "fascism is a real threat, for all of us."
“Vlaams Belang is not a political party like the others. Vlaams Belang is a party that wants all 'foreigners' to leave the country, that actively undermines democracy and that wants to make Flanders independent, three things that I, as a liberal and democrat, fundamentally disagree with," he said.
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Additionally, Gatz said that he received a lot of support on social media, "but some people seem to have a problem" when he "calls things by name."
In the run-up to the meeting, which kicked off Vlaams Belang's electoral campaign for next year's elections, the party and Van Grieken spent more than €240,000 on online advertising for the event in the past month alone, Apache reports.
Vlaams Belang claims that 3,000 supporters attended though the official police headcount was just 1,500.
