BELGIUM: Belgian police use water cannon to disperse an angry crowd gathered to attend a banned far-right meeting due to feature French comedian Dieudonne

Record ID: 565393

  • Title: BELGIUM: Belgian police use water cannon to disperse an angry crowd gathered to attend a banned far-right meeting due to feature French comedian Dieudonne
  • Date: 4th May 2014
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MAY 4, 2014) (REUTERS) *CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE* LINE OF RIOT POLICE / SUPPORTERS OF MEETING, MEDIA AND PASSENGERS-BY POLICE EXPLANATION FOR ORDER TO BAN MEETING PASTED ON WALL DETAIL OF POLICE REPORT WRITTEN IN FRENCH, MENTIONING USE OF ANTI-SEMITIC LANGUAGE BY FRENCH COMEDIAN DIEUDONNE DURING PERFORMANCES IN FRANCE CROWD STANDING OUTSIDE THEATRE PEOPLE HOLDING BANNER READING (French): "The elitists violate and kill our children" HELICOPTER FLYING OVER / RIOT POLICE WATCHING CROWD BELGIAN FAR RIGHT POLITICIAN LAURENT LOUIS, ORGANISER OF MEETING, STANDING AMIDST CROWD LOUIS, STANDING IN MIDDLE, MAKING 'QUENELLE' GESTURE, A SALUTE INVENTED BY FRENCH COMEDIAN DIEUDONNE M'BALA M'BALA THAT HAS BEEN INTERPRETED AS AN INVERTED NAZI SALUTE MAN WITH WHITE FACE MASK MEN CHANTING RIOT POLICE APPROACHING FOLLOWED BY WATER CANNON CROWD SITTING IN ROAD / RIOT POLICE RIOT POLICE STANDING IN LINE BACKED BY WATER CANNON WATER CANNON SPRAYING OVER CROWD BELGIAN FAR-RIGHT POLITICIAN LAURENT LOUIS SHOUTING WATER CANNON APPROACHING WATER CANNON SPRAYING WATER OF PEOPLE AMBULANCE ARRIVING AT SITE LOUIS WALKING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (French) BELGIAN FAR-RIGHT POLITICIAN LAURENT LOUIS SAYING: "What we just faced is the evidence of anti-democracy. It is not a dictatorship but anti-democracy. Just like if we were in some Soviet Republic of Belgium, where all our rights are systematically violated. I just want to know why they made us wait for seven hours in front of that building to just water us like dogs when the state council had not even come to a decision? It's just nonsense and they are just making fun of us." PEOPLE WATCHING FROM WINDOWS AND BALCONY OF APARTMENT BLOCK CROWD ON STREET RIOT POLICE OUTSIDE APARTMENT BUILDING RIOT POLICE BLOCKING STREET OUTSIDE VENUE
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADWA4FFCWUI9P0D0HX8X7DMQ2Z
  • Story Text: Belgian police used a water cannon on Sunday (May 4) to disperse a crowd attempting to attend a banned far-right meeting in Brussels.
    The meeting, named the "European Conference of Dissidence", promised to feature several high-profile anti-Semitic speakers, including French comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala whose shows are banned in France.
    Earlier in the day, the mayor of the Brussels district Anderlecht, a working-class region in the southwest of Brussels, banned the meeting out of fear for disturbing public order. But the organiser of the meeting, controversial far-right politician Laurent Louis, posted on his Facebook page a call for people to ignore the ban.
    Some two hundred supporters gathered outside the "Salle Akdeniz", the venue of the meeting, hoping the ban would be overturned. When they refused to leave the site, riot police used water cannons to disperse them.

    "What we just faced is the evidence of anti-democracy. It is not a dictatorship but anti-democracy. Just like if we were in some Soviet Republic of Belgium, where all our rights are systematically violated. I just want to know why they made us wait for seven hours in front of that building to just water us like dogs when the state council had not even come to a decision? It's just nonsense and they are just making fun of us," said a drenched Louis, an independent member of Belgium's Federal Parliament.
    Some in the crowd, including Louis, made the infamous 'quenelle' gesture, a salute invented by Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala that mimics the Nazi salute.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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