Faced with fears of violent outbursts on New Year’s Eve, two municipalities in Belgium took the lead. In Antwerp, house arrests were decided for around fifty young people and, in a district of Anderlecht, a curfew was put in place for minors under 16 years old. Decisions presented as security measures for young people and the police, but which shock many in the country.
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In the Cureghem district of Anderlecht, in Belgiumminors under the age of 16 will be prohibited from walking in the streets after 7 p.m., unless accompanied by a parent. A measure taken by the mayor of Anderlecht, citing a decision to protect young people against injuries from firecrackers and fireworks. But he struggles to convince the residents of the merits of his decision, and almost saw the courts overturn it.
On site, in this popular district of this commune in the suburbs of Brussels, the measure is considered by many to be disproportionate, even discriminatory. Moreover, several parents appealed to the Council of State to have the curfew banned, without success. The institution has clearly established that the curfew is illegal and that this decision must be taken at the level of the municipal council and not unilaterally by the mayor. On the other hand, it was considered that the measure does not subject the minors concerned to a “ serious harm “. Also, the high court considers that the disturbances to public order feared by the mayor are not unpredictable, since they have already occurred in recent years.
Three years of house arrest in Antwerp
For his part, the mayor of Anderlecht swears, this measure will remain “ exceptional “. On the other hand, human rights associations are turning their gaze to Antwerp, in Flanders, where it is already the third year in a row that the mayor has taken measures to restrict freedom. Once again, Bart De Wever (New Flemish Alliance) has placed young people in the city under preventive house arrest.
A measure whose legality is questionable according to many jurists who point out that the number of people under house arrest at New Year’s has continued to increase in three years. Moreover, parents of a 17-year-old minor subject to one of these house arrests, between 6 p.m. on December 31 and 8 a.m. on January 1 (local time) tried to have it suspended before the Council of State . A request rejected, since a new version of house arrest allows the minor to celebrate his New Year abroad, in this case in Amsterdam.