Defence minister wants ‘Gendarmerie 2.0’ to handle crisis situations

Francken’s intention is to set up a mobile brigade under the authority of the Interior ministry. “We want to build up a reserve of people with military training,” he said. “This ‘Gendarmerie 2.0’ can be deployed during major crises, riots or situations that threaten to get out of hand.”

There has been considerable violence during protests in Brussels and Liège in recent days. “The police are doing their very best, but they are failing to restore calm,” Francken said. “That is why we need an additional armed force to support the police.”

The gendarmerie lost its formal military status in 1992 and was dissolved in 2001, when the country’s police and judicial system was fundamentally reformed in the wake of the Marc Dutroux killings.

“We have a very different society to the one we had 30 years ago,” Francken says. “Mass migration has changed the demographics. A street culture has emerged that leaves the average Belgian bewildered. We need to provide a response to that.”

He is proposing that the ministry of Defence train officers and make them available to the ministry of the Interior. “They will be very useful in cities such as Brussels and Liège. During riots or around New Year’s Eve, we see a constant game of cat-and-mouse involving a great deal of violence. If rioters attack paramedics, throw Molotov cocktails and set everything alight, we must have a proportionate response ready.”