Around 400 people gathered in Brussels on Wednesday afternoon to participate in Freedom Drive, a biannual protest that demands greater inclusion and support for people with disabilities.
"Throughout Europe, people with disabilities end up in separate education, separate workplaces and separate residential institutions," said spokesperson of the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), Frank Sioen.
"This is apartheid and segregation," added Sioen, reports Bruzz.
Beginning in Parc Cinquentenaire, the demonstration went via the European Commission to the European Parliament.
Currently outside @EU_Social: person in wheelchair locked in cage to symbolise #EUfunds support for residential institutions #FreedomDrive @ENIL_EU pic.twitter.com/udusMPU92p
— André Félix (@ARuivoFelix) October 2, 2019
“The Freedom Drive is the most important event in Europe around the human rights of people with disabilities. Here, pioneers of an independent life meet and are heard by the policymakers," said Luc Demarez, chairman of a participating human rights organisation, reports DeWereldMorgen.
An ENIL initiative, this month's Freedom Drive in Brussels saw the participation of delegations from Armenia, Sweden, Bosnia, Lithuania, Norway, Bulgaria, Iceland, Ireland and Japan.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times