Storm Troopers in Brussels?

An eywitness account sent to the Brussels Journal from yesterdays demonstration.
A reader who wants to stay anonymous sent us this witness account of yesterday's SIOE demonstration in Brussels.

I attended the demo in Bruxelles and we were in the city early enough to see the police forming up in various backstreets complete with water cannon and armed reserve units. What are they frightened of?

The police initiated violence without provocation and I personally witnessed and photographed the officer who appeared to be coordinating the assaults on people. This officer was busy throughout the encounter and was seen and photographed maneuvering frequently between groups of uniformed police and communicating with unknown others whereupon he re-directed the troops to another snatch operation against identified targets ... it was fascinating to watch and he became appallingly clumsy, predictable and blase about his nefarious actions - he obviously was having a really thrilling 'boys day out' telling 'the lads' who to pounce on next - a real hardline bully.

I witnessed first hand the un-provoked and un-warranted assaults on peaceful participants and stood near groups of armed officers waiting for their instructions listening to them in 4 separate locations whispering, nodding and calling up attention onto apparently specific participants who were moving around and circulating.

I am convinced the police were there deliberately to target specific individuals as they left many participants alone who clearly were not in their sights - myself included.

The vast array of armed 'stormtroopers' in backstreets and my witnessing of their subsequent initiation of unprovoked assaults against targeted participants leads me to firmly believe there was a counter-agenda. The SIoE demonstration was but a sideshow and Freddy-the-Mayor is just a stalking horse.

What is going on in Belgium? I saw this in East Germany some years ago, Northern Ireland and Chile. But Belgium! What is happening ?

International media are gradually beginning to take notice of the crisis in Brussels

Yesterday Joshua Keating wrote a piece on the blog of the American journal Foreign Policy about the “simmering ethnic tensions” in Belgium. Keating notes that “If nothing else comes from this, it should certainly give EU diplomats some pause before chastising Albanians and Serbs, Palestinians and Jews, or Sunnis and Shiites for failing to coexist.

In 2004 the economic output per person in Flanders was 124% of the EU average, in Wallonia it was but 90% of the EU average. Today the Walloon business paper L’Echo writes that if Wallonia loses the Flemish subsidies, amounting to 3.3 billion euros, this would cost every Walloon 1,000 euros per year. Brussels, Belgium’s bilingual capital, receives 0.2 billion euros from Flanders each year, or 200 euros per citizen. Some Walloons suggest that if pro-market Flanders secedes from Belgium Socialist-dominated Wallonia cannot survive and will have to join France. 40% of the active population in Wallonia works for the government (compared to “only” 25% in Flanders) and 20% is unemployed (7% in Flanders).

Meanwhile, the Walloon Parti Socialiste, traditionally the dominant party in Belgian politics, is embroiled in a corruption scandal involving Pierre-Dominique Schmidt, Belgium’s ambassador to France. France is Belgium’s most powerful neighbour. If the country falls apart, the role of France will be pivotal. The position of Belgian ambassador to Paris is a privilege of the PS. Belgian diplomats need the patronage of a political party. As a rule the position in Paris is bestowed on a diplomat who is a PS party member. He is one of the most important ambassadors in Belgium.

Last Wednesday the Flemish weekly
P-Magazine revealed that Ambassador Schmidt had forged Foreign Office documents in order to obtain bank loans to pay for his luxurious life style. The ambassador has been throwing regular private disco parties costing up to 75,000 euros. Ambassador Schmidt is a homosexual and a friend of PS leader Elio Di Rupo, the president of the Walloon Regional Government. According to P-Magazine, Mr. Di Rupo, who is also a homosexual, attended some of Schmidt’s parties. The magazine writes that the Belgian embassy in Paris is known at the Belgian Foreign Office in Brussels as ‘la cage aux folles,’ after a French 1978 movie about a homosexual couple that runs a nightclub featuring drag entertainment.