Judge Simon Cardon de Lichtbuer of the Brussels civil court will not decide before Friday whether the anti-Islamization demonstration planned in Brussels next Tuesday, September 11, is allowed to go ahead. This morning, after hearing Senator Hugo Coveliers, the lawyer of SIOE (Stop the Islamization of Europe), the German-Danish-British group which is organizing the demo, and the lawyers of Freddy Thielemans, the Brussels mayor who banned the demo, Judge Cardon de Lichtbuer decided to postpone his decision until Friday.
 
According to Mayor Thielemans the demonstrators are “racists” and “xenophobes” who picked 9/11 as the date of their demo in order to “confound the terrorist activities of Muslim extremists on the one hand and Islam as a religion and all Muslims on the other hand.” Because Brussels is the capital of the European Union the demonstrators, coming from all over Europe, hope to be able to march in Brussels. They want to be heard by the European authorities. SIOE’s original intent was to march through Brussels and end the demo at the Luxemburg Plaza in front of the European Parliament. There they wish to hold one minute of silence for the 9/11/2001 victims.
 
As I wrote earlier the strategy of the Belgian authorities might simply be to drag the case out in order to make it difficult for the organizers to make arrangements for their demonstration. As things now stand the demonstration is still illegal.
 
Sources within the Brussels police, however, have told us that the Brussels police are willing to “tolerate” SIOE’s demo, despite the mayor’s ban, provided that the demonstrators convene on the Schuman Plaza in front of the Berlaymont building, the European Commission's headquarters, and that they do not go marching through the streets or along the boulevards. The Schuman Plaza is a large square which can be easily protected by the police while the demonstrators listen to speeches and hold one minute of silence. There is a train station, Brussels-Schuman, and a metro station next to the Plaza.
 
The Brussels police are nervous because, despite the Arab European League’s official statement that its Muslim gangs will not counterdemonstrate, Muslim groups are rallying their members to do just that. The police intends to concentrate the Muslim youths on the Luxemburg plaza, in front of the European Parliament, which is smaller than the Schuman Plaza and much easier to cordon off.
 
SIOE has not yet announced officially where it wants its demonstrators to convene. There are rumours that some “hardliners” insist on demonstrating in front of the European Parliament. There are also rumours of Neo-Nazi groups coming to Brussels to riot. However, those who want to avoid street fighting had better go to the Schuman Plaza. They are asked to carry white ribbons in protest against Mayor Thielemans, a Socialist who caters for the Muslim population of Brussels, and his decision to silence the peoples of Europe who refuse to live in a predominantly Muslim society. SIOE planned to bring 20,000 demonstrators from 26 European countries to Brussels. Given the confusion surrounding the demo after it was banned three weeks ago it is not clear how many people still intend to come.