The grave of Belgian Jewish Liberal Reformist Party leader Jean Gol was vandalized, and those attending a memorial service for him were attacked last Thursday in what some supporters characterized as antisemitism or far-left political violence.
Senator Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the Reformist Movement (MR), into which Gol’s party merged in 2002, said on social media that the politician’s grave was defaced on the 30th anniversary of his death in a move to intimidate his supporters.
The Belgian Royal Palace issued a statement decrying the incident as a heinous act of antisemitism and hatred.
Coordination Committee of Jewish Organizations of Belgium (CCOJB) secretary-general Eitan Berman called the incident a cowardly attack on the deceased. Gol was “a great man, both for the liberal party and for Belgium,” said Bergman. CCOJB’s parent organization, the European Jewish Congress, condemned the targeting of the Liège gravesite of the Jewish statesman as “a vile act of antisemitism and political intimidation.”
Interior and Security Minister Bernard Quintin said on X/Twitter that Belgian democracy itself was being insulted and that antisemitism and violence were no longer hiding with the desecration of Gol’s grave and the targeting of a memorial event later that day.
Firecrackers and rotten apples thrown at guests
MR said in a statement that 400 far Left activists gathered outside the University of Liège, where a tribute evening to mark the anniversary of Gol’s passing was held. The activists allegedly threw firecrackers and rotten apples at guests, and several officials were reportedly assaulted.
Stavelot mayor Fabien Legros said on Facebook that he was “beaten,” and 12 officers were reportedly wounded in the clashes.
An MR activist’s jacket was allegedly spray-painted with a swastika.
“This violence, which comes on top of the vandalism observed that same morning at Gol’s grave, demonstrates a worrying escalation,” said MR.
MR claimed that its facilities were being vandalized every few days and that officials were receiving daily threats.
The Jean Gol Center, which was also commemorating the 20th anniversary of its founding at the event, said that the vandalism of Gol’s grave and the violence of protesters marred a day of tribute and turned it into a day of infamy.
“Such behaviors go against the very principles of dialogue and respect for which we fight and that Gol always defended: democratic confrontation must take place exclusively on the level of ideas and values. In no case should it be physical,” the center said on X.
“But Jean Gol also represents the strength of optimism. And this heinous act is totally powerless to contain the tumultuous flow of Jean Gol’s invigorating ideas and the liberal values he cherished. Following this ignominy, the Jean Gol Center strengthens its determination to fight against those who seek to impose themselves through violence or intimidation.”
Bouchez responded to the violence in a video statement last Friday, saying that they would file criminal complaints against the perpetrators and push for the dissolution of Antifa for their involvement. He also called for the university to address the behavior of members of the institution.
Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) reported that University of Liège rector Anne-Sophie Nyssen criticized MR for refusing to move the event despite receiving police warnings hours prior and for renaming the university hall after Gol.
She said that the university would no longer host political events after the incident. Nyseen also acknowledged that some staff and students were among the protesters but said that she would support their right to free expression as long as it was non-violent.
Bouchez shot back on social media that the university was betraying its own values by no longer allowing democratic parties to use its halls and that her blaming MR for the violence of far-left activists was submission to their actions.
“The left holds the monopoly on political violence in Belgium, but also on the rewriting of history!” Bouchez said on X. “The rector would never have made the same statements if the violence had come from the far Right.