Police officers mobilized during the national demonstration in Brussels on Thursday received the order not to intervene and not to help colleagues in trouble. Many were caught up in events that led to 112 officers being injured, La Dernière Heure reported on Saturday, quoting several police sources. The injunction came from the administrative authority, the Brussels mayor Yann Mayer. “Our colleagues from Midi were calling for reinforcements over the radio. And we couldn’t move (…) This went on for almost an hour”, says an officer from Brussels-Capitale-Ixelles zone, adding the order did not come from his superiors in the police.
According to several sources, Yann Mayer was in the streets of the capital on Thursday as, he says, chief of police and head of operations. He gave the order not to go to the aid of officers in trouble near the Porte de Hall for more than 40 minutes, preferring “discussion” with those causing the trouble.
(Source: Belga)
