By Martin Cole-
Riot police were deployed to disperse crowds in Brussels’ Bois de la Cambre on Thursday afternoon after thousands of people showed up to “La Boum,” a fake festival that was announced as an April Fools’ joke.
Photos and videos on social media show large crowds of young people dancing and partying, with many relaxing in the park.
Footage posted to social media showed chaotic scenes as riot police armed with shields and batons moved in to disperse the crowds, which – in addition to some attendees filmed drinking and dancing – appeared to include some people dissatisfied with coronavirus rules currently in force with the aim of preventing a third wave of infections, amid rising case numbers and hospitalisations.
The party comes within 24 hours of a Brussels Court ruling , ordering the Belgian government to annul Covid regulations ,until its rules are passed through its parliament.
The prosecutor’s office is investigating the currently anonymous founders of the fake event, according to VRT.
The organisers have reportedly revealed themselves to be “creatives” working in the embattled events industry. De Morgen quoted them as saying: “We have done nothing wrong, have we? If we had really set up a festival, or a party, then we would. But this is no more and no less than an April Fools’ joke.
Many of the people present, however, refused to leave and were throwing bottles and other projectiles at the police, causing police to use water cannons, police horses, pepper spray, tear gas, and a drone
Water cannons and tear gas were used by the police in Brussels on Thursday, where nearly 2,000 young people gathered to party in a park, after an April Fool’s Day launched on social networks. The event, posted in March on Facebook, notably promised the participation of Daft Punk.
The Belgian police used, Thursday April 1, tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of young people gathered in a park in the capital Brussels for a wild party organized despite the ban by the authorities.
Credit: Video screengrab/Twitter
The event was supposed to be an April Fool’s Day on social media. Despite the announcement by the organizers that it was a hoax, around 2,000 people showed up at the Bois de la Cambre park at the end of the day, hot and sunny, to participate in “La Boom”, a indicated the police of Belgium.
On Wednesday, the Brussels public prosecutor’s office had however warned that the call launched on social networks to rally this park on April 1 was illegal due to restrictions in the fight against Covid-19.
Many revellers in the crowd pumped their fists and chanted “freedom” and some threw bottles and stones at the water cannon trucks.
“We are all depressed. I’ll be 18 in two weeks, we want to take advantage of our youth,” high school student Amelie, who had come for the party, told Reuters. “We came not to annoy the police, but to show that we also have a life and want to enjoy it.”