Police in Ghent have arrested five women out of a group of six who harassed a jogger, one of them spitting on the victim's face.
Prosecutors in East Flanders reported that the 27-year-old jogger was harassed, chased and spat on during a run along the city's Watersportbaan, a rowing waterway.
The incident broke out when the group of six unidentified women were reportedly called out by the jogger for taking up the entire foot and cycle path.
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One of the perpetrators broke away from the group and started following the jogger and began pushing her, leading to an argument, Het Nieuwsblad reports.
The jogger ran way from the group who continued their harassment and pursuit, prompting the jogger to call the police as one of the perpetrators spat on the victim's face.
Police arrived on the scene and arrested five women out of the six in the group. A sixth person managed to elude the police while the five detainees were taken in for questioning.
The one who spat on the jogger, a woman in her forties, was summoned before prosecutors under charges of unarmed rebellion, non-compliance measures of confinement and of "spreading apparently unharmful substances which can arouse severe feelings of anxiety about terror-motivated attacks."
She is set to appear before a criminal court on 28 May.
The women's arrest is one of several incidents involving spitting during the coronavirus lockdown, which led police to classify it as an offence punishable with up to two years imprisonment.
The Brussels Times
