The grave of Jean Gol was vandalised at the Robermont Cemetery in Liège, exactly 30 years after his death, his daughter discovered on Thursday morning, according to the City of Liège and the police.
Mayor Willy Demeyer immediately instructed that the graffiti be removed, and municipal teams began the clean-up. The city announced in a statement on Thursday afternoon that it would file a formal complaint with the public prosecutor.
Coincidentally, an event was scheduled that same afternoon at the cemetery to commemorate 30 years since the death of Jean Gol, the former president of the francophone liberal party (PRL), as well as a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice in the 1980s.
Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of French-speaking right-wing liberals MR, commented on social media platform X, describing the act as indefensible.
Are there even words to describe such behaviour? We must never let their disgraceful acts intimidate us. I hope our political opponents will finally denounce this. My thoughts are with his loved ones and family,” he wrote.
Later on Thursday evening, MR is set to mark the 20th anniversary of the Centre Jean Gol, founded in memory of the liberal leader from Liège. The celebration will take place at the August XX campus of the University of Liège.
However, protests are expected outside the event. Various groups, including the Liège Antifascist Front, Liège Occupation Free, Waha Manif, the Liège Feminist Circle, the Federation of Organised and Combative Youth (JOC), Students ECCSA en colère, and Students of the Left in Action, issued a joint statement criticising the event.
"We refuse to allow the university to be a showcase for a party increasingly leaning towards the far-right and supporting war crimes in Gaza," the groups declared.
