Café visitors and owners were united in their demonstration on the Beursplein in Brussels on Friday evening.
The call for action comes after the closure of one of the iconic cafés of the city, Au Daringman. Several organisations, including LIBERTAP, BeTOOGing and the French BarRage, tried to gather protesters against the unfair contracts bars are often forced to sign, causing mandatory closures in some cases.
One of the organisers, Jan Van den Bossche, thinks the importance of cafés in the modern days is underappreciated. "The corona crisis has proven that cafés have great value as meeting places. But here and there, bankrupt cafés are being demolished to make way for apartment blocks," making it very difficult to start new businesses.
"The owners have to pay a high rent, which is then linked to drink prices that are skyrocketing," added Van den Bossche. "As a café owner, you have to achieve a certain volume right away to survive, while the drinks dealers profit."
Such restrictions on these businesses are said to make it challenging to maintain the existing café culture in Brussels. A manifesto has reportedly been made by the organisers, but no further action has been taken since.
