Leader of the Flemish socialist Vooruit party Conner Rousseau will be questioned this week about potentially racist remarks he made to police officers about a month ago, following an official report for racism and xenophobia.
The incident occurred on the night of 1 to 2 September during the Vredefeesten in Rousseau's hometown, Sint-Niklaas. According to him, he had been heavily drinking that night and had a conversation with several police officers, which he described as jokingly and friendly.
However, the police drew up an official report. Flemish news media Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM NEWS had an article ready last Friday with more details from the investigation, but Rousseau put a stop to its publication.
Publication ban
"The article and the report contain excerpts from the official report filed against Rousseau. When Rousseau was asked by the editors to respond, he went to court," Het Laatste Nieuws announced on Friday.
The judge banned the publication of the story and imposed a penalty of €1,000 per hour if information from the investigation was still published. Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM NEWS will abide by the publication ban for as long as it remains in force, but have started appeal proceedings to get the ban reversed.
This week, Rousseau will be questioned, his lawyer Christine Mussche confirmed to VRT. By then, he will also know exactly what is in the official report that has been drawn up against him and will be able to give his version of what happened.
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"It is quite special that we have not yet seen the official report. That Mr Rousseau has not even been interrogated yet and that [Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM] have access to a statement that we do not yet have access to," she told VTM.
When reports on the fact that the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office was investigating possible racist statements made by Rousseau were published on 21 September, he said: "I did indeed go to a bar in Sint-Niklaas that day and spoke to several police officers. I had drunk too much, but in my memory, the tenor of those conversations was rather joking and friendly."
