Belgian Flags Are Everywhere

IT WOULD be an exaggeration to say Belgian flags have appeared all over Brussels, but turn a corner, and there is just a chance you will see one hanging from a wrought-iron balcony.

It is not just flags. Yesterday, a startlingly substantial crowd turned out to march in a parade to commemorate the martyrs of the Belgian independence movement. This is an annual event, organised by the frankly marginal monarchist group, Pro Belgica, and normally attracts a few heroic old geezers in blazers and medals, a parping police brass band and a sprinkling of followers.

This year it was a different story