Many shots shot on social networks on October 26 following the 2nd anti-Good Move demonstration in Schaerbeek. We see detached road signs and some demonstrators brandishing them as a sign of victory. One of them particularly caught the eye. And for good reason: the man posing with a “bike street” signal is Xavier Mezquita, Political Secretary of the MR Schaerbeekois. According to BX1, he is also… founder of the group “Stop Good Move 1030”, which has taken over from the demonstrators in recent days and before.
This is condemnable and condemned. It is not because this plan was botched that it is necessary to resort to the degradation of public goods.
That’s enough to get in the way. The interested party is content to kick into touch: “I picked up this panel which was on the ground so that it does not hurt anyone. Point bar”, justifies Xavier Mezquita on Twitter. Which did not convince David Leisterh, President of the Brussels MR: “This is reprehensible and condemned. It is not because this plan has been botched and must be reviewed that it is necessary to resort to violence and degradation of public property to be heard”, greedy the Boitsfortois. Alexia Bertrand, head of the MR group in the Brussels Parliament, engages: “the president of the Brussels MR immediately made it clear to him that things were not going well. I am naturally annoyed, but I cannot control all the members and sympathizers of the MR” , pleads the Sanpétrusienne.
The local section of the party explains for its part that “the MR was present alongside the Schaerbeekois who demonstrated en masse and calmly once morest the Good Move Plan”. Indeed, the only blue municipal councilor Angelica Chan and the president of the Schaerbeek section Yvan de Beauffort assume their presence in the procession where the signals have been knocked out. The liberals of the Cité des Ânes thus ensure that “the inhabitants had received authorization from the police to dismantle the panels and the barriers of the Pavillon and Stephenson squares in order to symbolically place them in front of the town hall”.
“It is not acceptable to commit crimes and remove traffic signs. We are analyzing the images to identify the perpetrators. »
It’s not really the North Zone’s version of the police. “When the demonstrators removed the signs, more than 200 people were present, including families with children, residents of the neighborhood and other neighborhoods,” said Olivier Slosse, area manager. “Acting at this time to stop these offenses would go once morest the principles of policing: acting among such a diverse group risks injuring bystanders and onlookers, whether through the action of the police or by that of hotheads. None of this means that it is acceptable to commit crimes and remove the road signs. That is why we analyze the images in order to identify the perpetrators, to ‘draw up reports and send them to the King’s Prosecutor’.
Where I get angry is when this violence is fueled by political parties like the PTB or the MR. It is extremely dangerous.
In the ranks of the regional majority, the Minister for Mobility Elke Van den Brandt is very critical of this political recovery. “We cannot accept that groups or parties take advantage of discontent to use violence”, she reacted on the VRT the day following the incidents, speaking of “vandalism” and pointing to the MR in the same way as the PTB. She is joined by Rajae Maouane, co-president of Écolo: “where I am angry is when this violence is exacerbated and fueled by political parties […] like the PTB or the MR. […] It is extremely dangerous to stir up anger that exists, “comments the Molenbeekoise on BX1. Accusations from which the PTB has dissociated itself by the voice of its group leader in the Brussels Parliament Françoise De Smedt.
Ironically, this is not the first time that an MR activist has fallen for the sign of the cycle street: in July, Alexandre Piha, vice-president of his Auderghem section, boasted of “pushing a cyclist” for the pass on a cycle street. He finally had to apologize.
It should also be noted that other politicians, particularly on the side of the PS, supported the withdrawal of this part of the Good Move plan in Schaerbeek, as Georges-Louis Bouchez pointed out.
If the withdrawal of #GoodMove is a victory for @PSofficielwhy not withdraw it at the level of the Brussels region as a whole?
The left kills #Bruxelles and manipulates its inhabitants! Stop this plan decided in an authoritarian way and blinded by ecological dogmatism. pic.twitter.com/MSlH4Lffmu– Georges-L BOUCHEZ (@GLBouchez) October 26, 2022
