On Thursday night, 22 members of the Extinction Rebellion group have been arrested preventively while they were preparing to protest against Black Friday.
"Around 11:00 PM, 22 arrests were made in the centre of the city as a result of an inspection," said Ilse Van de Keere, a police spokesperson, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. "They were in possession of material from which we could conclude that they were planning something," she added.
"The idea was to go protest this insane promotion of consumerism, which is threatening our planet, with a poster campaign," said an activist to Bruzz. "But immediately after leaving the last meeting, the police were waiting for us. In vans, we were taken to the police station at the Marché au Charbon, where we spent a night in the cell," they added.
"We are now going to check whether this preventive arrest is by the book," the group said, reports Bruzz. "It seems like an exaggerated reaction to a campaign in which we just wanted to raise awareness," they added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
