Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned the racist insults levelled at RTBF presenter Cécile Djunga and denounced the ignoble behaviour of the extreme-right Schild & Vrienden organization in an address at the annual gala of the Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organisations (CCOJB), held on Thursday evening at the Noble Concert in Brussels.
“I’m going to instruct the National Security Council to strengthen the operational instruments for fighting antisemitism, racism and xenophobia,” he stated.
“We cannot accept the launching of insulting and hateful messages at a presenter based on the colour of her skin,” Michel said. “We cannot accept the revelations of this reportage yesterday on a television channel exposing the abject behaviour of a group of individuals. I also know that Jews are insulted, sometimes brutalized – because they are Jewish; that in schools children are harassed because they are Jewish. We shall not tolerate this type of behaviour or its banalization.”
"Safeguarding security is our common duty; safeguarding security is a permanent battle,” he stressed, adding that he would continue to mobilise the resources needed to step up the protection of Jewish institutions and other strategic places.
“Fear has to change sides,” he concluded.
The Brussels Times.
Charles Michel expresses solidarity with victims of racism
