The controversial law to temporarily restrict participation in demonstrations has been abandoned by the Federal Government, which will now pass several criminal justice system reforms instead.
At the start of October, people took to the streets of Brussels en masse in a final fight against the so-called 'Van Quickenborne bill' (it was proposed by former Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne), which civil society, with trade unions in the lead, feared would compromise the democratic right to protest.
The law planned to give judges the right to ban rioters and troublemakers from demonstrating. Particularly, those who "make use of a demonstration to start fires, cause destruction or damage property."
At the time, the former justice minister clarified that the bill aimed to guarantee the right to peaceful protest, not diminish it, by allowing authorities to exclude people suspected of causing trouble, rather than being forced to ban demonstrations in advance because police cannot guarantee safety.
The Supreme Judicial Council and the Federal Institute of Human Rights also expressed opposition to the bill, but the Council of State said it could, legally, be given a green light. However, nearing the end of the year, political friction around the law grew.
Despite changes being made to the text, the President of the French-speaking Socialist Party (PS), Paul Magnette, announced that his party would not support the bill after all. Both the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Green parties joined its side. This brought the issue back to the core cabinet of ministers.
In this restricted council of ministers, an agreement was reached at noon on Wednesday on a modification to the bill, the office of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo confirmed to Belga News Agency, bringing an end to months of discussions on the matter.
'Fast-track justice'
The judicial ban on demonstrations will now be scrapped by the Federal Government, bringing an end to the political impasse, but in exchange for higher penalties for troublemakers during a demonstration. However, this too was deemed too hard-line for PS.
In exchange for the removed ban on demonstrations, the government plans to introduce several reforms to the criminal justice system before the end of the year, including speeding up the planned fast-track justice.
This means that a person arrested in a case where no further investigation is required can appear in court within days. The procedure can then last a minimum of five days and a maximum of 40 days if the suspect is caught red-handed.
The punishment for those who assault people in positions of authority such as the police will also be tightened. This agreement was coupled with certain adjustments in the reform of the penal code, but it will be lifted from the new criminal code and submitted to the House now. There will also be harsher penalties for rebellion against the police.
