We received the following e-mail from the office of Vladimir Palko, one of Slovakia’s leading politicians. Mr Palko, who is a member of the Slovak Christian-Democrat Party KDH, was Interior minister from 2002 to 2006 and is currently a leader of the Slovak opposition. Mr Palko says the behaviour of the Brussels mayor and police reminds him of the behaviour of the dictators in his home country prior to the fall of communism in 1989. (pb)

Dear Mr. Belien,

Vladimir Palko, MP (Slovakia) wrote a letter to Alain Cools, ambassador of Belgium in Slovakia and publicly protested against un-legitimate use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Brussels, during the demonstration against islamization.

A reader who wants to stay anonymous sent us this witness account of yesterday's SIOE demonstration in Brussels.

I attended the demo in Bruxelles and we were in the city early enough to see the police forming up in various backstreets complete with water cannon and armed reserve units. What are they frightened of?

The police initiated violence without provocation and I personally witnessed and photographed the officer who appeared to be coordinating the assaults on people.  This officer was busy throughout the encounter and was seen and photographed maneuvering frequently between groups of uniformed police and communicating with unknown others whereupon he re-directed the troops to another snatch operation against identified targets ... it was fascinating to watch and he became appallingly clumsy, predictable and blase about his nefarious actions - he obviously was having a really thrilling 'boys day out' telling 'the lads' who to pounce on next - a real hardline bully.

At a press conference in the European Parliament yesterday evening foreign journalists openly doubted the statement by Philip Claeys and Koen Dillen, two members of the European Parliament for the Vlaams Belang party (VB), that the Brussels police had told the VB that they would tolerate yesterday’s anti-Islamization demonstration if it was a peaceful “static” protest at Schuman Plaza. Despite this agreement, the police beat up the peaceful demonstrators in front of the European Commission building. “You can tell us whatever you want, but we need proof,” one of the foreign journalists told Claeys and Dillen.

I just returned home from the anti-Islamization demonstration in Brussels. The Belgian police beat up the peaceful demonstrators in what even the Belgian public television call "an extremely violent fashion." Here are some video images. The grey-haired man whom we see being attacked by the police first is Luk Van Nieuwenhuysen, the Vice-President of the Flemish Parliament. Shortly afterwards we see the police maltreating Frank Vanhecke, a member of the European Parliament and the party leader of the Vlaams Belang. We see how he is handcuffed and pushed into a police bus. Afterwards we also see the police "taking care" of Filip Dewinter, the VB group leader in the Flemish Parliament. We see how his arm gets caught between the closing doors of the bus. An Italian MEP and a French MEP were also arrested. The demonstrators were kept in cells for seven hours and released this evening.

A quote from The New York Sun, 11 September 2007

Today, Belgium is a microcosm of the E.U.: bureaucratic, undemocratic, corporatist. As the author Paul Belien argued in his book "A Throne in Brussels," the "Belgianisation of Europe" is already far advanced. If the European Union is to be given back to its constituent peoples, Belgium might be a good place to start.

The break-up of Belgium need not create instability: 2007 is not 1831. Europe has nothing to fear from a free vote of the Walloons and Flemings, both of whom might choose to accede to France and the Netherlands respectively. Wiser counsel would no doubt urge the Walloons and Flemings to prefer the protection of some kind of arrangement with either the British or the Americans and their freedoms. In any event, democracy - not realpolitik - should decide Belgium's destiny. Let us hope that Europe, too, has an opportunity to vote before its future is determined from above.

While our editor Paul Belien is still entangled in the SIOE-demonstration in Brussels, we bring you a report by Baron Bodissey from Gates of Vienna, who has been monitoring the situation and who has been in contact by telephone with some of the demonstrators, including Paul - LVB

12:29 CET

I just received a phone call from Aeneas, a British blogger who is in Brussels for the SIOE demonstration. It was hard to hear him during our conversation due to the sirens in the background.

The demonstration is proceeding, and, despite the rumors in advance, the Brussels police are not allowing the demonstrators to protest without hindrance. People are being dragged away by the police and put into buses.

A quote from The Independent, 11 September 2007

A "quickie" divorce of Belgium into two separate, sovereign states is unlikely. [...] In the longer run, a sour but peaceful separation, on the Czech and Slovak model, can no longer be discounted. [...] A strong Belgium is still important to Britain and to the EU. It is a great irony – beloved of Europhobes – that Belgium, one of the greatest advocates of a federal Europe, cannot make sense of its own federal system.

On Monday afternoon Herman Van Rompuy, the veteran politician appointed by Belgian King Albert II as his royal “scout,” will report to the King about possible ways out of Belgium’s government crisis. The crisis has arisen as a result of the inability of the Belgian politicians to form a government. There is growing talk of a secession of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium. If that happens what to do with Brussels, a French-speaking enclave within Flanders? And what about Wallonia, the French-speaking southern half of Belgium?

If Belgium breaks up it is likely that Wallonia will break up as well, with part of it preferring to go to Germany, part of it to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg (GDL) and part of it to France.

“A Throne in Brussels,” my history of Belgium, was published in 2005. The book predicts that “Belgium will collapse in the next ten years.” It also warns that “Belgium’s past might be Europe’s future.” The collapse of Belgium has begun. International journalists who would like a review copy can request one from the publisher [Imprint Academic in Exeter (UK) and Charlottesville, VA (US)] here.
 
My book is a history of Belgium since its foundation until today. It is the ONLY English-language history book that explains the causes of the coming collapse of Belgium and its implications for Europe. Read a sample chapter (pdf) of the book here.

A quote from Andrew Norfolk in The [London] Times, 7 September 2007

Almost half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values and has called on Muslims to “shed blood” for Allah, an investigation by The Times has found.

Riyadh ul Haq [...] is in line to become the spiritual leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain. The ultra-conservative movement, which gave birth to the Taleban in Afghanistan, now runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques, according to a police report seen by The Times.