On Monday, the VSOA/SLFP police union filed a strike notice for the Brussels-Capital-Ixelles police zone, which was deployed to supervise the Black Lives Matter demonstration.
The union reiterated its call for zero tolerance for violence against police officers, its president, Vincent Houssin told Belga.
The demonstration, which was tolerated by the city of Brussels, brought together around 10,000 people. Even though the manifestation happened peacefully, incidents subsequently broke out in Brussels' Matonge district. Several rioters threw stones at the police, looted shops and set fires.
This was the last straw, according to the police union, which also spoke up about earlier riots in Anderlecht during the lockdown.
Onder de noemer "betoging tegen racisme en politiegeweld". Mooie namiddag weer in het bruisende Brussel, deze beelden gaan de wereld rond meneer @PhilippeClose @SmetPascal en mevrouw @hildesabbe pic.twitter.com/HJbg23HtSK
— VSOA POLITIE (@VSOAPOLITIE) June 7, 2020
"We have established that Sunday's risk analysis did not hold up. Then, we already remarked that if things went wrong, nobody would know what to do. Tolerance limits were not right either concerning violence against the police," Houssin said.
"That is one of the first demands we will make: the risk analyses must be made decent and there must be zero tolerance against violence. Otherwise, it will always escalate like Sunday," he added.
"Yesterday, 28 police officers were injured. We are turning to the administrative authorities, who have an important responsibility, and must take that responsibility to enforce the law," Houssin said. According to the union, the demonstration should never have taken place.
The strike notice was filed on Monday and will take effect in about ten days. The union is also asking for a meeting with the ministers and the relevant authorities.
The Brussels Times
