The Dour-Hauts-Pays police zone has announced that a thousand police officers across all services will be mobilised for the duration of the Dour Festival.
The 33rd edition of the festival opened on Wednesday 12 July and will run for five days until Sunday 16 July. Aphex Twin, Peggy Gou, Orelsan and dEUS are among the 250 acts scheduled to perform.
The local area is receiving several types of reinforcements, including from other local areas and from France. Belgian federal police will be joined by the French gendarmerie and national police at the border town.
"The festival site is like a city within a city. It covers some 170 hectares," explained Patrice Degobert, head of the Dour-Hauts-Pays police force. "We’re expecting 50,000 festival-goers a day over the five days of the event. The usual population of Dour is 17,000. Our police zone has 75 officers, hence the need for reinforcements for the event."
Credit: Belga / Hatim Kaghat
The reinforcements to the local teams are of several types. "We have specialised reinforcements from the federal police, including horse riders, a helicopter, a network of wireless cameras installed at the festival sites, forensic teams for drug checks, with investigators from the federal judicial police, the laboratory, and lapdogs," added Patrice Dagobert. "Federal police are present in the context of the current terrorist threat."
Several police zones are also providing reinforcements to maintain order. "Teams for the management of judicial events are also mobilised, others for arrests, custody and transport of detainees", said Dagobert. "We have a veritable police village on the ground, built by the organisers. So the crisis management structure is in place and ready to react if necessary: we work in direct contact with the fire brigade, medical services, logistics services, organisers and the administrative authority."
