Singer Arno’s Partner Alleges Racial Profiling in Brussels Police Encounter

Sophie Dewulf was not among the demonstrators. Her misfortune is to be of Moroccan-Tunisian origin. According to the facts, the companion of singer Arno had gone down to the street for a few minutes, in her pajamas, to walk her dog. Her mistake: she had not kept the animal well. The police did not hesitate to point this out to her. As this 40-year-old woman was returning home, she was apprehended and then pinned against the wall. She did not have her papers on her.

"Sophie cried on the way back," the singer explains to Sudinfo. Thanks to the alert launched by a local merchant, the singer rushed to the rescue of his companion. "I didn’t understand why because the police didn’t tell me anything," wonders Arno. What next? Sophie went home but filed a complaint with the Brussels public prosecutor through her lawyer, Alexis Deswaef.

"It’s usually my adopted name that saves me, but this time I didn’t have my ID card on me," says the plaintiff. "I wonder what could have happened if Arno hadn’t arrived. Physically, what happened to me is not serious. Morally, yes, but not physically. But I want to file a complaint. I want to file a complaint not only for myself, but also on behalf of those who are afraid or do not have the means to do so."

And she adds: "What I find terrible today is that we should feel reassured at the sight of a uniform and that we have come to be afraid of it."