Around 1,500 people, according to organisers, protested in Brussels on Saturday afternoon to mark the International Day Against Police Brutality.
They marched from Place du Luxembourg to Place du Congrès to call for structural changes within the Belgian police to ensure “no one dies during interactions with the police.”
The procession made several stops along the route, allowing various speakers, including relatives of police brutality victims, to address the crowd and pay tribute to those who have died.
“The police are an institution that commits a lot of daily violence. We need to curb this violence and move towards a system that handles conflicts differently so no one dies during police encounters,” said Camille, a member of the Solidarity Tools Against Police Violence collective, one of the organisers of the protest.
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“We demand several changes, including an end to police pursuits, reduced favouritism towards police officers suspected of violence, and increased investment in prevention rather than expanding the budget for more repression. The issue must be addressed at its root,” he continued.
“We wanted to gather in large numbers today because we are concerned about the new federal government’s proposals. They aim to make Tasers standard issue in the police and facilitate cooperation between the police and the Office for Foreigners, which suggests more raids on undocumented individuals,” added Camille.
