The unions that represent the country’s police officers are planning a national demonstration to protest against violence on police officers by members of the public. The decision to stage the demonstration that is planned for Monday 28 November has come after a stabbing in the Brussels municipality of Schaarbeek on Thursday evening in which one police officer was killed and another injured.
Joeri Dehaes of the Christian police union ACV Police said that the unions decided that they will stage a protest on Monday week during a meeting held on Friday. A leaflet released jointly by all the unions that represent the country’s police officers demands greater respect for the police. Not only from the general public, but also from politician and the judicay.
Mr Dehaes described the fatal stabbing of the police officer in Schaarbeek by a radicalised ex-convict as a “cowardly and deliberate murder”.
“The perpetrator was known for his radicalism, his extremism. He had a prison record. He came forward. And then the Public Prosecutor said he could do nothing. This is beyond belief”, Mr Dehaes said.
The trade unionsist went on to call for greater respect for police officers from the federal government. He pointed to the fact that a previously agreed salary increase for the police has been partly cancelled, while the advantageous pension scheme for police officers is to be phased out by 2030.
Meanwhile, the liberal police union VSOA spoke of the “umpteenth case of violence against the police in the Brussels-Capital Region,” and also attacked both the government and the judiciary.
The 32-year-old man arrested after stabbing two police officers on Thursday evening in Schaarbeek was on the watchlist of the terror threat analysis body OCAD.