The Bruges Criminal Court has handed down community service sentences of up to 150 hours to four people involved in the August 2020 brawl on Blankenberge beach; a fifth was committed to a psychiatric institution.
On 8 August 2020, violent skirmishes broke out on the beach between a group of young people, lifeguards and police as they arrived at the scene, using anything they could find, including parasols, deck chairs, and even sand as weapons.
Three of them were arrested on the spot and subsequently detained by the investigating judge. Further investigations later allowed other suspects to be identified as well. In the end, five people involved in the fight had to answer in court.
Three years later, they have now received their punishments: three rioters received a 150-hour community service, another a 100-hour community service. A fifth defendant was committed to a psychiatric institution, as had been the case in another case as well. The troublemakers will also have to pay thousands of euros in damages.
Credit: Belga
The punishments could be considered to be lower than what the prosecution had originally sought – effective prison sentences of up to 18 months. The defence, in turn, unsuccessfully sought to have the proceedings declared inadmissible, arguing it was inexplicable that the Blankenberge/Zuienkerke police zone had conducted the investigation itself.
Lawyers also stressed that a reasonable time frame for the case had been exceeded and requested a suspension of the sentence, but Patrick Arnou, a lawyer for the city of Blankenberge, told VRT that he was satisfied. "These are tough sentences. The judge wanted to send a clear message here that this is not acceptable."
