Mayor De Wever about the lack of federal security J… (Antwerp)
Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) is sharp about the lack of security of the Jewish quarter by the federal government. “I find this incomprehensible and repulsive,” says De Wever.
Mayor De Wever said this at the commemoration ceremony of the bomb attack on the synagogue in the Hoveniersstraat in Antwerp in 1981. Three people were killed and injured.
Security of the Jewish quarter by the military was halted at the end of August. They patrolled Antwerp for over six years. The military was deployed after the attacks in Paris.
Jewish organizations include all their activities about the loss of this security. They find support from mayor De Wever. At the commemoration ceremony, the mayor is aware that threat level 3 still applies in the Jewish quarter, which is one at the highest threat level.
“I therefore find it incomprehensible and repugnant that under these highly uncertain circumstances, security has been discontinued by the federal government,” says De Wever.
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Clash with Minister Verlinden
In September, the month with many Jewish holidays, the Antwerp police took over part of that security assignment. De Wever hoped that the federal government would come up with an alternative to the military or give extra resources to the Antwerp police to protect the Jewish quarter.
Federal Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) has said in the past that she has no intention of doing so. According to her, the Antwerp police force can handle this assignment itself.
“We have every confidence in the future capacity, expertise, expertise and the minister said at the end of August. “After all, the Antwerp police force is one of the largest police zones in the country in terms of manpower.”
At the end of August there was already a clash between De Wever and Minister Verlinden. svw