With a Shrove Sunday that attracted more than 50,000 people, twice the average Carnival, and two other fat days of the same ilk, the 2023 edition of the Binche Carnival broke all attendance records. To manage this crowd, 450 police officers from all over Belgium were called upon. Safety was the priority this year, like the others in reality, especially with the backdrop of the events at Strépy-Bracquegnies which took place on March 20th. “I have seen myself that some groups do not fully respect the safety rules”, told us Laurent Raspe, commander of the Binche-Anderlues-Lermes zone, who was nevertheless relieved when everyone found themselves in the security perimeter. “The place for pedestrians is on the sidewalk, not on the road. And even if many companies and groups have played the game, others have not completely respected the safety instructions that we had reminded them of. Groups, for example, were in total darkness. Other people, mostly followers, still believe they are allowed everything and have not learned the lessons of the drama of March 20, especially during a pick-up and with a drink in their nose. It will therefore be necessary to further work on this aspect of safety because, as we saw in Strépy, zero risk does not exist, even less during the festive period.”
During the three fat days, no major incident was to be deplored. “We had a few fights but not more, not less than the other years and this, in spite of the crowd present in number. On the other hand, some 300 vehicles had to be removed by us over the three days because they were parked in the wrong place. We also deplore numerous collisions with hit and run. vehicles, well parked, which found themselves in accidents.”
A total of 450 police officers were therefore mobilized in the streets of Binche. They were welcomed as it should be at the Kursaal where dishes concocted by the Binchois caterer Arnaud Molle awaited them. “We always plan enough police officers according to the maximum capacity of the city to welcome people. In previous years, I happened to ask certain teams to reduce their working hours because, quite simply, there weren’t any more. But this year, it was quite the opposite and some teams had to extend their guard, without ever exceeding the maximum number of working hours, it goes without saying.”
