Last night, action group 'Gents Verzet' (Ghentian Resistance) took down and pasted over election posters of the far-right Vlaams Belang party replacing the Vlaams Belang ads with their own message referring to the Belgian resistance during World War II. Police arrested a suspect. The man was detained, but claimed he had nothing to do with the action group.
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Elections 2024: Vlaams Belang posters pasted over by symbols of Belgian WW2 resistance, suspect arrested
Colin Clapson
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In Ghent last night, Vlaams Belang election posters were targeted by an action group. The group, which calls itself 'Gents Verzet' (Ghentian Resistance), removed posters on official election billboards and replaced them with their own messages. These feature an inverted red triangle, a reference to the Belgian resistance in World War II.
Police arrested one suspect, who allegedly vandalised posters last night. The man denies being a member of the group.
The 'Gent Resistance' calls itself 'anti-fascist'. "The extreme right stands for exclusion, humiliation of transgender people and people of colour," a short message reads. “Our aim is to leave no election poster of the extreme right untouched." The group urges other activists to join their action.
"This is an act of hate and vandalic censorship," Jonas Naeyaert of the Ghent Vlaams Belang branch responded. He is a candidate for the federal parliament on 9 June. "We will not be intimidated. Tomorrow the posters will be there again. This typifies the practices of the extremist left. People try to sabotage us and fear the change we bring”.