Thank You, Mr. Mayor: Champagne for Everyone

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Every year the authorities in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and of the European Union (EU), receive between 500 and 600 applications for permission to demonstrate or hold protest marches. With very few exceptions permission is always granted. In the past five years only six applications were turned down – an average of one a year. Among these was one for a demonstration by the DHKP/C, a Kurdish terrorist organization. Last week another request was turned down. Freddy Thielemans, the Mayor of Brussels, prohibited a demonstration against the Islamization of Europe, planned to be held next September 11 in front of the European Parliament buildings. Mayor Thielemans is worried that the demonstration will upset the large immigrant population of Brussels. Over half the inhabitants of the Brussels region are of foreign origin, many of them from Morocco. According to the mayor there is a real danger of violence between demonstrators and Muslims living in the neighbourhood. The latter might not tolerate native Europeans protesting against their continent becoming Eurabia.
 
Thielemans is a member of the Parti Socialiste (PS), a Belgian party which caters for the Muslim population. The PS is the largest party in Brussels, holding 17 of the 47 seats in the city council. 10 of the 17 PS-councillors are Muslims. The PS governs Brussels in a coalition with the Christian-Democrats, who have 11 councillors, of whom 2 are Muslims and 3 are immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. Only 13 of the 28 councillors in the governing coalition of the city are native Belgians. Thielemans is the most conspicuous of these. He is an atheist who is fond of Muslims, not because he respects religious people, but because he hates Christians. On 2 April 2005 the Brussels mayor was attending an official cocktail party with the mayor of Angoulême (France), when the news of the death of Pope John Paul II reached him. On hearing the news he ordered “Champagne for everyone!” His French colleague walked out in disgust. Upsetting Catholics has never particularly worried the Socialist mayor of Brussels, for instance when he refused to ban a play (by a Moroccan-born author) which was advertised around the country on posters portraying the Virgin Mary with bare breasts.
 
In Mr. Thielemans’s absence his deputy, Algerian-born Faouzia Hariche, is Brussels’ acting mayor – which is an improvement. Hariche, too, obviously, is Muslim-friendly, but she has never publicly toasted the death of the Pope.
 
Last Spring, the Danish group Stop Islamiseringen af Danmark (SIAD), the British group Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) and the German group Pax Europa, whose logo includes the flag of the multiculturalist EU, decided to organize a protest march against the introduction of Sharia laws in Europe. The organizers want the march to take place on 9/11 in the streets of Brussels and to end in front of the EU Parliament. There, the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, will be commemorated with one minute of silence.
 
The initiative was announced on various blogs, but there did not seem to be a contact in Belgium who was responsible for its organization. It seemed as if the march was being organized exclusively in cyberspace, with no preparations being made in Brussels itself. The organizers announced on their blogs that 20,000 demonstrators from all over Europe had announced their intention to come to Brussels. In mid-July we visited the European Parliament buildings and its vicinity with an international delegation from the Center for Vigilant Freedom. CVF is sympathetic towards the demonstration, but wanted more information. We wondered how the Luxemburg Plaza in front of the parliament buildings, where construction work is still being carried out, could fit the masses which were announced to show up. European protest demonstrations usually end near the Berlaymont building, the European Commission’s headquarters, and the adjacent Cinquantenaire Park.
 
Up until last week the Belgian press had made no mention of the march. Last Thursday, however, Mayor Thielemans banned the demonstration. A local joke has it that the mayor cannot allow a demonstration on his 63rd birthday (Thielemans was born on Sept. 11, 1944) because he fears that if the pope dies on his birthday it will cost him a fortune to offer “champagne for everyone.”  That would be no big deal in a city where the many Muslims do not drink alcohol, but with 20,000 non-Islamic visitors in town the mayor might bankrupt himself on champagne.
 
Thielemans’ decision prompted Filip Dewinter, one of the leaders of the Vlaams Belang, Belgium’s major (and Europe’s most successful) “Islamophobic” and Eurosceptic party, to announce his intention to attend the demonstration. Dewinter, who (I am not making this up) is also celebrating his birthday on Sept. 11, is inviting everyone to come to the Luxemburg Plaza with him. “I will have my birthday party on the Luxemburg Plaza in front of the European Parliament. And no-one will be able to prevent me from being there and calling out slogans. Everyone is welcome.”
 
The Danish-British-German organizers can lodge an appeal against the mayor’s prohibition with the Belgian Council of State. The CoS may rule that the demonstration must be allowed to take place. Meanwhile an online petition, which everyone is invited to sign, asks the mayor to reconsider his decision. Thielemans’ ban has turned the anti-Sharia demonstration into a huge publicity stunt, even if only a few people show up. The press will be there and the world will be watching – if not a mass demonstration, Filip Dewinter celebrating his 45th birthday with a bottle of champagne. Meanwhile, Thielemans’ decision has showed the world that Brussels, a city which does not allow peaceful Europeans to demonstrate and make their wishes known to the European authorities in town, is unworthy of being Europe’s capital.

more on US freedoms and assembly

Mike H. :I am sure if we looked hard enough we can find many, many examples of permits being denied for political reasons in the US. 

While we are on the topic of freedoms why did the US need a Constitutional amendment to ban alcohol and a simple majority to ban marijuana? The political/ruling elites just do whatever they want to anyway. I just loved the tax money paid for DEA ads saying that if you smoke weed you are essentially a terrorist. Did we have any doubt the Patriot act would immediately be turned against domestic political activists after the complete failure against Al-Queda?

But like the KKK/Nazi rally they will blame the resulting black/fascist counter rally and violence on the original peaceful protesters. There were no Klansmen/Nazis even in the town during the riots after the permit was revoked in Ohio but the main stream media widely reported they were responsible for burning the town down. Of course blacks always get a free ride from the media after their "protest" riots like trashing Berkeley and L.A. after the Rodney King police acquittal.

Ok, Freedom of assembly!

JCPennylegion, 

Ohio, the Klu Klux Klan requested a parade permit but was refused because the black community was about to hold a counter-riot. Anytime that the public safety is endangered permits can be refused. This, of course, is abused, but it does happen in the US. 

Great article Paul,It

 Great article Paul,

It seems that some organisations don't even bother asking permission to demonstrate. As far as i know it happened with a demonstration in favour of muslim veils and also with a demonstration against the Danish cartoons. Though they didn't play by the rules, these events were, of course, "tolerated".

As for this manifestation, it might be advisable that the manifestators take some camera's and photo devices with them in a discrete way. So whenever there are irregularities, they can be recorded and, if needed, put on the internet as evidence. Otherwise politicians and the media will traditionally put all the blame on the protestors but never the police nor the muslim saints.

 

Re: And the next step?

""Christian Democrats,who have 11 councillors,of whom 2 are MUSLIMS".

It is me isn't it?...

 

No,it isn't you,MarkE.This is simply one step along the way to the ultimate multiculti marketing tool,the Eurabian Halal Pork Kebab!

Next step

So, when protesters show up in Brussels anyway will we see the EU-version of the Tienanmen Square Massacre ?

If that's the case.....

So, when protesters show up in Brussels anyway will we see the EU-version of the Tienanmen Square Massacre

REPLY: If that's the case, then your so called "leaders" over there would be showing their true colors, woundn't they? This story has not yet reached the main stream media here in America yet. It's too politically incorrect for those biased fools. The only way it would get media attention here is if something like Tienamen Square does happen. I pray that it doesn't, regardless of the media bias!

Andt the next step?

I can't help but wonder will the next step, after banning protests he doesn't approve of, be making attendance at those he does approve of complusory?

 

PS:

"Christian-Democrats, who have 11 councillors, of whom 2 are Muslims"

It is me isn't it?  I am missing something here?

Collaborator

Thielemans reminds me of the archetype collaborator: always sticking with those in power. No doubt he would have gone "nazi" in the 1930's, just like he now instinctively feels that it is ultimately the muslim's who decide what happens and what does not happen in Brussels...
No wonder he is such an excellent socialist and hates the pope and catholics. Indeed, it is totally safe and so popular to spit on the pope. What a coward.
Ed

Same everywhere

Despite having the "Freedom of Assembly" in the constitution similar rallies are often denied in the US also.  The US Founding Fathers did a superhuman effort in creating the US Constitution but even this can be worked around by the political elite. Freedom is clearly not the default condition of the human situation.

Please cite specific

Please document your assertion by citing specific instances where US citizens were denied the right to assemble, march, or otherwise protest in public. JCPennylegion, USA

Not such a good idea Freddy !

It's a bit too easy to turn down such requests Freddy. I know you're concerned with safety and want to prevent violence but there are other means than just forbid a demo. For instance you could ask the organisators to provide you with a recognized insurance contract which covers all damages caused by eventual riots. You can also request that the organisators assure themselves the security and held them responsible for any outbreak of violence. You could assure that eventual counter-demonstrants are providing the same guarantees. From your side, you should make that demonstrants and counter-demonstrants stay well separated.

No surprise here

"prohibited a demonstration against the Islamization of Europe, planned to be held next September 11 in front of the European Parliament buildings."

 

After I saw the fliers I knew it was just a matter of time.

Oiznop "(P.S. How can you people in Belgium vote for morons like this?).....
"

Belgians vote for their mayors? Wow! How Democratic for Europe. Ours are appointed by the "party" like a good communist country.

Belgians vote

Belgians vote for their mayors, but after the vote the mayors have to be appointed by the government. It used to be by the King. In the 1930s several municipalities (such as Mol and Geel in the rural Kempen area) elected Flemish-secessionist mayors. The King refused to appoint them. As a result the municipalities were governed by a minority coalition.

Great Article Paul!

Paul Belien: "Thielemans is a member of the Parti Socialiste (PS), a Belgian party which caters for the Muslim population. The PS is the largest party in Brussels, holding 17 of the 47 seats in the city council. 10 of the 17 PS-councillors are Muslims. The PS governs Brussels in a coalition with the Christian-Democrats, who have 11 councillors, of whom 2 are Muslims and 3 are immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. Only 13 of the 28 councillors in the governing coalition of the city are native Belgians."

 

This state of affairs arose through measures that were in the main undemocratic and arguably treasonous. However, those individuals and groups behind it are preventing legitimate, majoritarian, democratic and peaceful opposition to their plot to erase the nations of Europe through a combination of ethnolysis and socio-political deconstruction.

 

Paul Belien (on Thielemans): "He is an atheist who is fond of Muslims, not because he respects religious people, but because he hates Christians. On 2 April 2005 the Brussels mayor was attending an official cocktail party with the mayor of Angoulême (France), when the news of the death of Pope John Paul II reached him. On hearing the news he ordered “Champagne for everyone!” His French colleague walked out in disgust. Upsetting Catholics has never particularly worried the Socialist mayor of Brussels, for instance when he refused to ban a play (by a Moroccan-born author) which was advertised around the country on posters portraying the Virgin Mary with bare breasts."

 

Mr. Thielemans is clearly one of an entire international network of Western politicians and bureaucrats aiding and abetting reverse racism (incl. organised violence e.g. swarmings, rapings) as well as singling out Christianity for discrimination and harassment.

 

Paul Belien: "In Mr. Thielemans’s absence his deputy, Algerian-born Faouzia Hariche, is Brussels’ acting mayor – which is an improvement. Hariche, too, obviously, is Muslim-friendly, but she has never publicly toasted the death of the Pope."

 

Ms. Hariche is not an improvement. That traitors can be found on our "side" does not change my opinion of the enemy. Evidently, both our traitors and our opponents have been successful thus far because Europeans refuse to respond in kind. Unfortunately, 20,000 peaceful Belgian demonstrators will barely dent those processes working against them: however, if the organisers were to import the 50,000 skinheads and football hooligans currently running amok with impunity in Russia, the "authorities" would be forced to take note.

 

I am sure that many here, myself included, find Serb paramilitaries, skinheads and football hooligans distasteful. However, who here wants to be the loser of what is clearly a zero-sum game? Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see law-abiding and hardworking native Europeans reclaim their birthright without the aid of jackboots, but I cannot ignore reality anymore than London and Paris could after September 1939.

We dont need this silly

We dont need this silly major to autorize nothing.

We just have to go there. It has much most flavour this way.

 

As an American....

...of Italian origin, and proud of this heritage, I wish you luck with your demonstration, and persuading this fool Mayor of Brussels to allow it to go on....Fight for your freedoms, fight the good fight and preserve western culture/civilization.....Before it's too late! Oh, and one other thing...with regard to the Lord Mayor Fat Freddy's comment upon the Pope's passing, here's hoping the champange in hell is bitter and poisonous! (P.S. How can you people in Belgium vote for morons like this?).....