Belgian Police Officers Accused of Racist Slurs and Violence During Kayaking Trip

According to the police, some young people in the school group would have flirted with a policewoman. The young people, on the other hand, claim that the drunken police officers provoked them. "A student went down, and said ’now what are you looking for?’ And then the first blow came. A policeman hit the student. They didn’t know they were police and a friend came to give the second blow," recounts to Sud Info the mother of a student, witness to the events.

The agents showed violence and made racist remarks towards the young people, confides a student. "These people (the police) were heavily intoxicated. They were not in their normal state. From there, it turned into a fight. There were attempts to drown the police, racist insults like ’bands of dirty Moroccans!’" she specifies. This fight resulted in injuries among the police, some of whom had broken ribs or a perforated eardrum, others a torn tendon in the hand and a broken jaw. Among the students, about ten were injured.

After the clashes, a policewoman would have uttered racist insults towards some young people and spat on one of her colleagues who was trying to calm her down. The local police of Brussels-West confirm having received an incident report, drawn up a report for assault and battery and constituted a judicial file which it transmitted to the Namur public prosecutor’s office.

"Contrary to what was announced in certain press articles, this was not an official teambuilding activity organized by the police zone, but a private activity between colleagues," explained the Brussels-West police zone in a press release signed by Luc Ysebaert, first divisional commissioner and head of corps. "Depending on the results of the investigation, appropriate measures will be taken according to the responsibilities of each," assured the official, reminding the agents "of the need to adopt exemplary behavior at all times, including in their private life".