A legal case against Brussels-Ixelles police has been launched for violent behaviour and the theft of journalistic material during a protest against the French far-right figure Jordan Bardella in November.
Bardella is the leader of the far-right party National Rally (RN) and was elected to the European Parliament in June. On 13 November, he attended the launch of his book Ce que je cherche ('What I am looking for') at the Hungary House in the centre of Brussels.
Around 1,000 antifascist demonstrators gathered outside the event to protest the normalisation of the far-right. Clashes with the police ensued.
Tear gas and water cannons were used against the protestors, firecrackers were thrown at the police and 40 people were arrested. The movement evolved into an unauthorised march and the far-right party Vlaams Belang's offices in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode were also attacked.
At the time, protestors denounced multiple cases of police violence. On Wednesday, it emerged that three people have taken legal action against the Brussels-Ixelles police, accusing them of assaults, illegal and arbitrary arrests, inhuman and degrading treatment, robbery and extortion.
'Slammed to the ground'
One of the individuals is a reporter with the media collective Zin TV.
"Nina was forced to put her camera on the ground before being grabbed by the hair, slammed to the ground, handcuffed with collars and lined up with the other women being arrested," the media company said in a press release. Officers attempted to remove the battery from her camera and rip off a Zin TV sticker from it. They then confiscated her SD card.
"Nina was finally released half an hour later after much discussion between the police officers. As a result of the physical and psychological consequences, she was off work for eight days."
Another complainant, Valentin, was intimidated by police officers when he tried to film their actions with his phone. He was sprayed with an irritating substance, he was tackled to the ground, his glasses were removed and stamped on and he spent the night in a prison cell.
Second theft incident
"It is our duty to denounce these acts of violence and intimidation," Zin TV stated. "We have therefore decided to intervene on behalf of the plaintiffs. It is particularly worrying and distressing to note that police officers are trying at all costs to prevent their repressive and violent actions from being documented."
The Brussels-Ixelles police zone declined to comment on the ongoing case when contacted by Le Soir, but stated that "we will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour within our police force that is detrimental both to our profession and to the legitimate trust that all citizens must be able to place in their police."
In 2021, a legal ruling deemed that two police officers had stolen two cameras from Zin TV during a protest against the EU-Canada Trade Agreement (CETA) in 2015.
