Police carried out four "brutal" arrests after a protest for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Brussels on Saturday. The suspects were allegedly violent but bystanders said police aggression was "beyond shocking".
Between 550 and 800 people participated in a protest for the DRC in Brussels in Saturday. Participants are calling for peace in the region and are urging the EU to sanction Rwanda and stop supporting the M23 rebels, the Rwandan-backed group that captured the eastern Congolese city Goma last week.
The procession set off at around 13:00 and finished up at Place du Luxembourg, next to the European Parliament. Afterwards, at around 17:30, several bystanders witnessed the violent arrests of participants in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.
Sophie (not her real name) works for an international organisation in Brussels. She had collected her child from school when she saw a group of young people of African descent, some wearing DRC flags, walking along Avenue de Broqueville in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.
Police sirens went off and some of the protestors started running in the opposite direction while others stayed where they were. The group who stayed were surrounded by police cars and officers in riot gear.
The officers were "very aggressive" and arrested three men, Sophie told The Brussels Times. They tied their hands and feet and told them to sit in a row on the floor.
Police then apprehended a young female bystander. She screamed while five officers placed her on the ground, sat on her and tied her hands.
At this stage, Sophie had exited her car and was filming the incident along with around five other people. "At first the police just looked at me, a bit unfriendly, but didn't say anything," she said.
"But as other passers-by stopped and started filming too, the police became aggressive and started pushing us away with their shields and sticks as they arrested the rest of the group. The level of brutality used was beyond shocking."
Sophie asked the officers what the arrestees had done, but received no answer. She was just asked to "move away."
Credit: The Brussels Times
When she told officers they did not have the right to treat the individuals this way, an officer responded with obscenities and threatened to beat her with his stick. Another bystander, a black man, was pushed to the ground.
"Then they pushed all of us towards the Montgomery roundabout so we couldn't see what was happening anymore. The police used their shields to cover the scene, but the arrested kids kept screaming."
The arrested individuals were taken away in a police car at around 18:10.
Arrestees under investigation
When contacted by The Brussels Times, the Montgomery police zone confirmed that an investigation was underway but refused to comment further.
The Public Prosecutor's Office said that police violence or threats towards people filming have not been reported. The ongoing investigation relates to the four arrested suspects.
"Two of them are suspected of having thrown stones at the police, causing a police officer to be incapacitated for three days," a spokesperson told The Brussels Times. "Another is suspected of hitting and spitting at a police officer" and "one is suspected of graffiti on buildings and street furniture."
The individual who spat at the officer is accused of "unarmed rebellion." The person who sprayed graffiti is accused of "aggravating circumstance relating to the discriminatory motive and incitement to hatred or violence against a group."
'Looking for trouble'
Belgo-Congolese activist Brenda Odimba of the non-proft Mwasi is a key figure in the Brussels solidarity movement with the DRC. She says the actions of the arrested individuals do not represent the wider campaign.
"Those people were looking for trouble with the police," she told The Brussels Times. "That's not how we want to mobilise. We want to mobilise peacefully. We don't want our young people here to be beaten up and put in prison. We know how things work."
Credit: The Brussels Times
"If anyone wants to fight, we invite them to go to Congo and smash up embassies over there. Congo is at war so people there have every right to attack embassies. But our job as Belgian citizens is to use our rights and stay within our rights."
However, the Embassy of Rwanda did not note any major issues at its site on Saturday.
"There was a big crowd present [part of the protest gathered outside the embassy, ed.] but no damage was done," according to communication officer Laetitia Tran Ngoc.
There will be another protest for the DRC this Saturday. Odimba says it will remain in front of the Congolese embassy – not the Rwandan one – to promote African unity over discord.
