A 10 person lockdown party in Waterloo on Friday has ended with several injured, after a police check ended in violence, which one GP has called "violence, without any restraint or respect."
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the owner of the house, his wife and their children fought back against the inspection by the police, which led to the family as well as police officers getting hurt.
The mother - who broke her nose during the incident - has also said that police were choking her and that she lost consciousness twice. The eldest daughter “wanted to come close to me and was violently grabbed, with both arms behind her back and lifted more than 10 meters off the ground,” the mother said in a statement.
The family’s 16-year-old son then jumped on a police officer “and was immediately tackled on the ground and handcuffed,” the mother said.
The woman also alleged that officers hit her head against her car multiple times and that “the blows were so violent that the car’s headlight came out of the bonnet,” saying she had blood all over her face.
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A general practitioner who examined the family the next day described the police's behaviour as "violence, without any restraint or respect," saying that the family's 13-year-old daughter was left "alone in the house with no news of her family and she is psychologically traumatized for life."
Meanwhile, the police and the mayor of Waterloo did not comment, simply saying that "the investigation is underway, it is up to the public prosecutor to express himself. But we confirm you that the police intervention for a Covid offence was justified and that it was carried out with a warrant," according to La Dernière Heure.
The father, mother and their adult daughter will be summoned to appear before the correctional court to answer for rebellion, assault of police officer and curfew infractions, according to the public prosecutor's office.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
