Last month Freddy Thielemans, the Socialist mayor of Brussels, the capital city of Belgium which also claims to be the “capital of Europe,” banned the demonstration request by a Danish-British-German alliance calling itself SIOE (Stop the Islamization of Europe). SIOE fears that Islam is becoming the dominant political force in Europe. The demonstrators wished to protest against the creeping introduction of Islamic law (Shari’a) in many European countries.
The prohibition of the demonstration by Mr Thielemans, whose party has a majority of Muslim councillors, proves that Islam has, indeed, become the dominant political force in the capital city of the European Union. According to the mayor the demonstration might lead to violence. He also accused the organizers of being “racists” and “Islamophobes” for having picked the symbolic date of 9/11 to hold their demonstration.
The banning of the demonstration has led to tensions within the organizing ad-hoc alliance. Earlier this week, Dr Udo Ulfkotte, the German co-organizer, unilaterally cancelled the demonstration but he was ousted by the Danish and British co-organizers who intend to go ahead with their protest. The idea for the demonstration originally came from the Danes and the British. A few weeks later they were approached by Dr Ulfkotte who teamed up with them.
Yesterday evening Dr Ulfkotte told Belgian television that he is “not an extremist.” He accused the far-right of having “hijacked” the demonstration and said he wants to remain strictly within the law. “My parents and grandparents were responsible for the holocaust. That is a terrible tragedy. I do not care if I lose face now,” he told the Brussels newspaper De Standaard. He added that he does not want anything to do with the Vlaams Belang, the Flemish-secessionist party, whom he himself had asked for help in his attempts to overrule the mayor’s ban through the courts.
Ulfkotte is a former correspondent of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He is the author of a book, Der Krieg im Dunkeln (War in the Dark), which claims that the Israeli secret services played a dirty role in the riots by Muslims youths in France in November 2005. According to Ulfkotte’s (anonymous) sources Israel’s goal is to portray Muslims as dangerous people who cannot be integrated into Western society.
Police officers from all over Belgium have been asked to stand by next Tuesday in case the SIOE demonstration leads to large scale rioting. Islamist groups are calling their followers to counterdemonstrate against “racism” and “Islamophobia.” There are rumours that the Brussels authorities will close down part of the metro network to prevent demonstrators and counterdemonstrators from going to Schuman Plaza, the square in front of the European Commission’s headquarters. If that happens Eurocrats may find it difficult to get to work on Tuesday.