Recent testimonies given by a municipal councillor and a bouncer have shed light on the ongoing discrimination people of colour face in Belgian nightclubs, RTBF reports.
Having received 188 reports of racist incidents in these establishments, the anti-discrimination organisation Unia told RTBF that the real figure was "undoubtedly" much higher as "few people file complaints" about the racism they face while clubbing.
One such example occurred on the 1 June, when the municipality of Jette’s Cultural Councillor Mounir Laarissi and two of his friends were turned away from the Jeux d’Hiver nightclub in Brussels' Bois de la Cambre, allegedly due to the colour of their skin.
“We asked if it was because of clothes,” the councillor explained, even if all three men were wearing shirts. “The bouncer told us that our clothes were fine, before smiling and making all kinds of innuendoes.”
In response, the Jeux d’Hiver’s owner Cédric d'Alcantara accused the Jette councillor of using racism as “a shortcut"' and even accused Laarissi of “campaigning” for next year’s local elections.
Nonetheless, accusations of racism have marred the nightclub in the past, having received a legal complaint in 2005 after allegedly turning away a client on racist grounds.
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At the time, the Jeux d’Hiver club defended itself by stating that they were only applying criteria which every nightclub did. However, recent testimony by a Belgian bouncer to RTBF unveiled how discriminatory these so-called criteria were.
Having worked in nightclubs in both Brussels and Wallonia, the security guard stated that “some managers told us that we don’t want any people of colour” – often being given instructions not to let “black and north African people” in. He added that some bosses were explicit in their demands but others were more discreet.
The bouncer explained that “you then try to find excuses, like the clothes the clients are wearing etc” but this only gives rise to an “insidious” form of racism, says Unia’s director Patrick Charlier.
The organisation's head concluded that this has led to “a certain fatalism,” telling RTBF that “some people won’t even go to these clubs any more as they feel that they are not welcome.”
