The mayor of Molenbeek-ST-Jean, Francoise Schepmans, banned the holding of an Islamophobic rally scheduled for Friday 3rd of November in one of the 19 municipalities in the Brussels-Capital region, reports L’Express.
«Any gathering of people that has to do with this rally will be prohibited by the municipality of Molenbeek-St-Jean», stated the mayor.
The rally has been announced weeks before by several far-right elected representatives, namely Filip Dewinter, a member of the Vlaams Belang, a far-right party and Flemish nationalist, and Geert Wilders, Dutch leader of the Party for freedom.
On Twitter, Geert Wilders tweeted on the 29th of September saying that : «On Friday 3rd of November, I am going with my colleague Filip Dewinter from Vlaams Belang on a working visit to the European jihad capital #StopIslam», referring to the municipality of Molenbeek -St-Jean, which was home to several terrorists, including Salah Abdeslam and Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
The announcement angered many elected representatives in the city including, Jamal Ikazban, head of the Socialist Party group at the communal council, who denounced Wilders’ tweet.