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Belgium: "witch hunt" - Moroccan youth

01 March 1997

A youth centre in Mechelen, Belgium, has condemned what it describes as a "witch hunt" being carried out by local police and Rijkswacht officers against Moroccan youths after an incident when four Moroccan boys playing on the street were apparently menaced by a police officer waving a gun.

The incident occurred on 12 February when the four boys were walking home after leaving the "Rzoezie" youth centre. According to the youth centre a car pulled up and a policeman got out pointing a gun at the boys and demanded that they stop. Two of the boys ran away into some bushes, where they were found by an employee of the youth centre together with a police officer who was pointing his gun at the bushes where the boys were hiding. Apparently one of the boys had blond hair and the police officer had assumed that he was a Belgian youth who was being attacked by the other three.

"Rzoezie" claim that this is typical of the way Mechelen police officers behave. In a press statement they point out that "too often youths are picked up by the police, who then search and question them. The behaviour of the Mechelen police, who have intensified their patrols in Mechelen town centre is typified by a cowboy style as if they wish to intimidate Moroccan youths by their new "get tough" approach to public order.

"Rzoezie" put the blame for the aggressive approach of Mechelen's police services down to what they call "blind racism. They treat all Moroccan youths as violent criminals who must be made aware of who's in charge".

Solidair 16.4.97