The 16 federal police officers responsible for protecting Antwerp’s Jewish quarter will no longer be deployed there after 1 January. This was announced by the Mayor of Antwerp Els van Doesburg (Flemish nationalist) in an interview on the talk show ‘De Tafel van Gert’ on the commercial television channel Play 4. The Federal Interior Minister Bernard Quintin (Francophone liberal) later confirmed what Ms Van Doesberg had said, while at the same time reaffirming that ensuring security around Jewish institutions is “an absolute priority”.
Federal police to be withdrawn from Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter at the end of the month
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During Tuesday evenings broadcast Mayor Van Doesburg brought attention to the issue of the security of her city’s Jewish community following Sunday’s attack on a Hanukkah celebration in the Australian city of Sydney.
At a meeting of Antwerp City Council on Monday the far-right opposition party Vlaams Belang called for for increased security at Jewish institutions and schools. However, it has since transpired officers from the Federal Police Service that had been dispatched to Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter will be withdrawn at the end of this month.
In a statement given to the press agency Belga, Mayor Van Doesburg’s office said that “The Minister of the Interior has decided that additional security provided by officers from the Federal Police will be discontinued from 1 January.”
“Incomprehensible”
The Jewish community across Belgium has been under a heightened threat level since 2014. Since then, officers from the Federal Police Service have been deployed alongside local police to protect Antwerp's Jewish Quarter.
Van Doesburg described the decision to withdraw the Federal Police officers as incomprehensible and warns of the consequences. She also issued an appeal to the federal authorities: “This is something we have to do together.”
Mr Quintin reportedly informed the Antwerp Local Police Service that has around 2,500 officers, that “the deployment of the officers from the Federal police reserve should not be a structural measure in Antwerp”. According to the Interior Minister, “the decision taken simply means that 16 Brussels federal police officers that were temporarily assigned to Antwerp as reinforcements, will be redeployed to their original station.”
Still no news on military personnel
Meanwhile, there is still no new legal framework for the deployment of military personnel to ensure security. An agreement on this measure had already been reached between Mr Quintin and the Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken (Flemish nationalist), but it was rejected one of the parties that make up the coalition government.
Mr Quintin has said that he supports deploying military personnel to sites linked to the Jewish community in Antwerp as a means of offering support to local police and freeing up capacity.