It is the second large march in the Belgian capital to protest against the extreme right since the European elections of June 9, in which conservatives and far-right came out stronger at the polls.
More than 4,500 people they marched for Brussels on sunday in protest against the extreme right and the racism. Organized by the Anti-Fascist Coordination of Belgium (CAB), the march brought together around twenty social movements and organizations.
It is the second large march held in the Belgian capital to protest against the extreme right since the european elections from June 9in which the parties of right and far right won big victories.
“This march is important today to show a message of hopein front of the messages of despair that the extreme right wants to bring to us,” said CAB member Sixtine Van Outryve.
“It is important to show that we are in solidarity with everyone, whatever their nationality, no matter what they earn, whatever they do. We are together and we want a society that does not divide us. A society that does not exclude, a society that is neither racist nor sexist“.
“Many of us have been surprised by the electoral results, which show advances by the extreme right at the European level,” declared Van Outryve, expressing concern about what he described as “alarming” trend towards the normalization of far-right speech.
The right-wing and far-right parties obtained great results in the European elections, with the strongest in France. Marine le Pen’s National Rally came in first place, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call early elections.
In ItaliaPrime Minister Meloni’s far-right party, Brothers of Italyobtained the highest number of votes (28.7%)Meanwhile in Germanythe far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) rose to second place, displacing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats into third place. There were also victories for populist and right-wing parties in Austria, Hungary y Bulgaria.
Los protesters in Brussels sought to demonstrate that the rise of the extreme right is not “inevitable” and that it was important to confront it by building social and democratic alternatives.
“We are going to show them that young people are not totally seduced by the extreme right and that most of us continue to fight against their ideas,” said a 17-year-old protester named Henri.
