The plenary session of the Flemish Parliament was disrupted on Wednesday afternoon by a pro-Palestinian demonstration to denounce the transport of weapons to Israel via Belgium.
Bearing Palestinian flags, several dozen demonstrators chanted slogans about the number of civilians killed in Gaza and called for a boycott of the Israeli shipping company Zim. This company is responsible for transporting Israeli munitions. It does so, among other places, via the port of Antwerp.
The leaflets distributed on Wednesday called for an "immediate halt" to all trade with Israel and "first and foremost the sale and transit of arms and munitions to this criminal country".
The sitting of parliament was suspended for around ten minutes. The demonstrators were evacuated by the police and the parliament filed a complaint for disturbing the peace.
Groen, the opposition party in Flanders, took the opportunity to raise the issue to Minister-President of the Flemish Government on the transit of arms to Israel via Belgium. "It is urgent that Jan Jambon intervenes. Flanders cannot and must not be the hub for arms deliveries to Israel," said Flemish MP Staf Aerts on social media.
In December, the newspaper De Morgen revealed that Zim had transported some 246 tonnes of ammunition and 20 tonnes of detonators via the port of Antwerp between November 2022 and November 2023.
