Flemish far-right party Vlaams Belang blocked the rue de La Loi in front of the House of Representatives, for about ten minutes on Wednesday morning, with the help of a procession of a few cars driven by deputies of the nationalist party.
The aim was to denounce the lack of government and the prospect of an "anti-democratic and anti-Flemish" Vivaldi coalition.
"If the Rue de la Loi blocks Flanders, we will block the Rue de la Loi,” the party said.
"A few more days and we are 500 days since the elections," said party leader Tom Van Grieken. "In that time, children were born, they learned to walk and even spoke their first words. We're not going to wait for them to go to school, are we?"
Several elected representatives of Vlaams Belang were preventively detained by the police in the vicinity of the Royal Palace.
A dozen vehicles, however, with the flags of Flanders in the wind, drove through the police lines before reaching the Rue de la Loi.
The party's European deputy, Gerolf Annemans, was arrested by the police during the action in front of the parliament.
Franstalige politieagenten pakken Europarlementslid @gannemans hardhandig op nav een vreedzame prikactie van het @vlbelang in de Wetstraat. #NietMijnRegering pic.twitter.com/Qfiem5UmtR
— Tom Van Grieken (@tomvangrieken) September 23, 2020
Translation: Francophone police officers arrest European parliamentarian Gerolf Annemans in response to a peaceful action by Vlaams Belang in the Rue de la Loi. #NotMyGovernment
Vlaams Belang has carried out such actions before. At the start of the negotiations for the current coalition, Vlaams Belang went to the CD&V headquarters with mops, projected the message 'Not my government' on 16 rue de la Loi, the prime minister's office, and on Sunday, a protest ride to Brussels is scheduled, ending at the Heysel.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
