"My job is not to encourage civil disobedience, but to manage a city"

This tough intervention of the police to evacuate the ecologist activists of Extinction Rebellion continues to debate. The burgomaster of the City of Brussels, Philippe Close, is awaiting a police report about the means used by the police to disperse the protesters.

Risk analysis

Questioned by the Flemish trade unionist Patrick Roijens, Philippe Close reacted this morning. "An event is never evaluated on its content. The bourgmestre is neutral and he decides on the basis of a risk analysis for the citizens, the city and the police ", explains the Mayor of Brussels.

He recalls that the demonstrators deployed in the neutral zone where any gathering is normally proscribed. " My job is not to encourage civil disobedience but to manage a cityinsists the Mayor of Brussels. When I tolerate a demonstration for 4 hours and ask for public transportation, we must also be reasonable on the other side and not put a boat that obstructs the rails. "

"A disproportionate answer"

For the organizers of the event, the sound of the bell is quite different. They talk " a disproportionate response from the police ". Same on the side of Benoit Hellings, alderman for Climate in the city of Brussels. On Facebook, he said yesterday that " during the dispersal of this spontaneous (and therefore unplanned) demonstration by the police, acts of violence – such as the use of pepper sprays and truncheons – took place. "For the Brussels alderman," this violence raises a serious question that deserves answers (…) The Police Advisers will analyze in more depth still all aspects of this painful moment. "