Brussels Riots: Federal Policewoman Rescued by Local Resident During Violent Protest

A group of rioters beat up Kelly, a 37-year-old federal policewoman from Lanaken (Limburg province), near the Liedts square in Schaerbeek, reports La Capitale. She was subjected to insults: "Son of a b*tch, f**k your mother." "I will never forget the look of these young people: full of hatred. I received about thirty kicks when, suddenly, I heard a man yelling at them to stop because I was a woman and not a man. It was a Moroccan resident, in slippers. He literally saved me from these young people by tearing them away from me," she testifies.

"Immediately afterwards, my colleagues were also able to push back their assailants and they immediately protected me by pulling me back. If I hadn’t had my RoboCop equipment, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you about it," the policewoman continues. Exasperated, she and her colleagues believe that this is going too far. "We fear that the situation will deteriorate further, until a policeman is really paralyzed or killed," she says, adding that this situation has also prompted several young people in her service (called the "federal reserve", editor’s note) to leave for a job in the private sector.

"The older colleagues are eagerly awaiting their retirement. They have still known the gendarmerie era, when all this did not happen, when there was still fear but, now, we are just punching bags. Who wants to become a policeman in Brussels under these conditions today?" questions this mother.

"The mayors allow everything. The public prosecutor’s office hardly prosecutes and the judges impose ridiculous sentences. We are not supported, she laments. We are still motivated but, more than ever, we have the feeling of being totally alone, abandoned by politics and justice. This demonstration should never have been allowed."