The tension is starting to rise for Vlaams Belang on Sunday at the ICC and the counter-demonstration that starts at Sint-Pietersplein in Ghent. Last night, vandals applied anti-Vlaams Belang slogans to the ICC and destroyed equipment.
Kill, fasco’s, Fuck VB and Vlaams Belang Bye. Vandals applied it to the ICC conference building with spray cans on Thursday night. The glass doors were also sprayed shut with Styrofoam and an intercom had to be used. Judging by the anarchist symbols, it seems that the perpetrators move in those circles.
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The vandalism is no coincidence. The far-right party will hold an ‘immigration conference’ at the ICC on Sunday. The leaders of the party will be present and the event is fully booked. At the same time, the opponents of the congress gather at St. Peter’s Square for a march to the city hall. Organization Hart Boven Hard protests against what it calls the ‘divide and rule tactic of Vlaams Belang’.
Drones
“Several perpetrators can be seen on camera images,” says Nicolas Vanden Eynden, general director of the ICC. “After five minutes they were gone again. Strange that this is happening now. Vlaams Belang is a good customer of ours and the organization always runs smoothly. I don’t agree with them ideologically, but everyone is welcome here and it will remain that way.”
Workers worked Friday to remove the paint and repair the damage. The police arrived on the scene and filed a report against unknown persons. The police will have a massive presence in the city on Sunday, including with a helicopter, water cannon and even drones. A permanence had already been planned in the ICC from Friday evening to Sunday evening.
© FVV
© FVV
Tags: Tension rising Vlaams Belang congress vandals spray slogans sabotage doors congress building Ghent
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