Have you ever pulled an April Fools' prank that didn't go the way you planned?
Yesterday's definitely went worse.
"La Boum," a fake festival in Brussels' Bois de la Cambre, was announced as an obvious joke "with eight stages, a hundred DJs and zero coronavirus rules."
However, that didn't stop up to 2,000 people from gathering in the park to dance, drink, and party, not respecting the social distance rules, and most of them without face masks.
According to the official figures on Friday morning, the joke that got out of hand resulted in at least 26 injured officers, over 20 arrests, and several damaged police vehicles.
Many of those present - mostly young people - declared that they were fed up with the measures, and wanted to experience some freedom after missing out on a year of events and meeting up with friends.
Belgium's Interior Affairs Minister, however, called it "a slap in the face for all those who are doing their best to respect the coronavirus measures" and expert stressed that "it is still far too early for this."
What do you think?
Let @johnstonjules know on Twitter. (Or @maithechini, since she wrote it today.)
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4. Thousands party in Brussels Bois de la Cambre as April Fools’ joke gets out of hand
Riot police were deployed to disperse crowds in Brussels’ Bois de la Cambre on Thursday afternoon after thousands of people showed up to “La Boum,” a fake festival that was announced as an April Fools’ joke.
Photos and videos on social media show large crowds of young people dancing and partying, many without face masks or respecting the social distance rules. Read more.
In the meantime, Interior Affairs Minister Annelies Verlinden called the gathering "a slap in the face for all those who are doing their best to respect the coronavirus measures.” Read more about that here.
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Bart De Wever is the president of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA, as well as the mayor of Antwerp, but that doesn’t mean he has no time to take to social media to defend confectionery.
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Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
