Julian Assange
621 weeks of deprivation of liberty for telling the truth
621 weeks of deprivation of liberty for telling the truth
AFTERTHOUGHTS EVENT 23.01.2022
It was and still is a lie. In reality, there were more than 500,000 demonstrators.
On 21.11.2021, they were 100.000 (instead of the 35.000 announced by the press) and the route was complete from the Gare du Nord to City 2. It was a lot.
Yesterday, the entire route between the Gare du Nord and the Cinquantenaire Park was filled with demonstrators. Moreover, while the head of the group had already arrived at the Cinquantenaire, there were still people leaving from the Gare du Nord.
The route between the Gare du Nord and the Cinquantenaire Park is 6 kilometers long.
This time, the inner ring road was closed to traffic in both directions. The event took place on all lanes in both directions and on the sidewalks on both sides as well as on all four lanes of the long Rue Belliard and finally on all side streets up to the main entrance of the Cinquantenaire Park.
According to our information, the Cinquantenaire Park can accommodate 1.4 million people. The section between the main entrance and the archways was crowded and the plaza behind the arch was also crowded with people. It was really much more than the suggested « 50,000 ». In addition, we have heard that many protesters were stopped by pickets well before the Fiftieth and did not make it.
2. The press announced in unison that the demonstration was a « corona demonstration ». This was not the case. It was a march for freedom, democracy and human rights. Not a word was said about this. The press did not show ANY pictures of the peaceful and colorful walk between the Gare du Nord and the Cinquantenaire Park (just like on 21.11, where the public only saw pictures of the riots). We were once again severely accused of being hooligans and rioters, when this was and is absolutely not the case.
The speakers who were able to speak were also all portrayed as extreme anti-vax and guilty of extreme forms of misinformation. This is also a lie.
Not a single word of what the various speakers said was broadcast. Only the images of a Dutch lady reading a poem were shown.
The international speakers were not heard (and neither was I). Mayor Philippe Close stopped the demonstration around 3:30 pm because there was riotingoutside the park and ordered the administrative police (robocops) to evacuate the park immediately with water cannons and tear gas.
By « coincidence », this happened just before the start of the second part of the speeches of the international speakers.
Tom and I spoke to the police representative. I asked to close the park and protect the protesters. This request was denied. Then I asked to be given another half hour. This request was also denied. « I’m just a messenger, » the man said, « the park must be vacated by the mayor, and you have a choice; either leave now voluntarily, or we will crush you all with water cannons and tear gas, with a heavy fine as well ».
Since there was nothing to say, we accepted the sentence. The safety of the participants is paramount. I went on stage, waited for the singer who was performing a song to finish, then announced the end of the event, asked him to leave, and pointed out that whoever stayed was doing so at his own risk.
However, we were not given time to leave quietly. The water cannons continued to advance to within 50 meters of the stage where the expensive (rented) sound equipment was located. We had to dismantle the stage with 30 people in seven times to avoid water damage.
The president of the German branch of WWD came forward with three men, arms in the air (as a sign of surrender) with the intention of slowing down the water cannons. He was literally thrown backwards by a water cannon aimed at him and injured his back.
The administrative police were extremely aggressive towards the peaceful demonstrators. People were beaten with batons because they did not run away fast enough to the only side exit from the park. The violence was totally disproportionate.
3. Annelies Verlinden proclaimed in the media that she was angry. « This is not a corona demonstration but pure violence, » she said. This is absurd, of course. Purely framed, as for all previous events.
She could not bring herself to honestly say that about 500,000 people had peacefully joined a demonstration for freedom, democracy and human rights. A clear signal that the people have had enough. Not only in Belgium, but also in 60 cities in many countries where many people also appeared to demand their freedoms. Of course, there was not a word about this in the press either.
4. There is also something to be said for the walkway to Cinquantenaire Park:
On the inner ring road of Brussels (halfway through the march) suddenly appeared out of nowhere (like all the previous times) about twenty hooligans dressed in black with black bandanas in front of their faces. With the yellow carnations of France, they walked in front of us. We deliberately held back the procession to create some distance and to make it clear that they did not belong to us.
I knew that these guys (as on all previous occasions) were going to make trouble and I explicitly asked the plainclothes policeman who was at the front of the procession with us (D.) to take preventive measures to safeguard the peaceful participants. It was refused. « We can’t do anything because they haven’t done anything yet, » he said. And again: « They are anarchists, we know them, we watch them. And that’s what we had to endure.
A recognizable model. Always the same scenario and always the same answer.
Shortly thereafter, three large men, dressed entirely in black with a black bandana in front of their faces, passed right by me (I was walking at the front of the procession to keep an eye on everything).
I asked one of them what he was doing there and why he was covering his face with a black bandana. He ignored me. I continued to talk to him and told him that I would continue to follow him and if he took a wrong step, I would know how to find him. Suddenly, he stepped away from me and walked right by the VRT media team! (At the head of the procession, there were press journalists from many countries). Stefan, head of the security team (a team member with a phenomenal memory) told me: « Carine, these guys were also at the Bois de la Cambre. They belong to the VRT team ». When I looked up, I actually saw the 3 « hooligans » talking to the VRT journalist. I didn’t let it happen, I approached them and addressed them again, « Ah so you are from the press, you come here dressed as a hooligan to give the impression that there are rioters accompanying the demonstration! », to which the VRT sound engineer replied with a smile, « Yes, so what, it’s allowed, right? »
So that’s how they do it .…
Upon arrival at Cinquantenaire Park, all participants immediately headed to the front where the stage and numerous booths (and Dixie toilets) were located. Europeans United had organized it very well and had invested a lot of money in it, with the financial support of sponsors (including the HFF). The man deserves a compliment. There was a great atmosphere. In addition to the speeches, there was also singing and dancing. Around 3:30 pm, we suddenly saw a large amount of white smoke outside the park (about 250 meters away). We received a message that there were riots outside the park. We asked the police to isolate the main entrance to the park so that our demonstration would not be compromised. This request was denied. However, the police could have perfectly positioned themselves in front of the park entrance to protect the demonstrators so that we could continue peacefully, but… They did not. Instead, they deliberately closed off all the streets in the neighborhood so that those who wanted to leave could only do so through the main entrance to Cinquantenaire Park. They literally chased the rioters into the park.
5. The riots were again staged in their force and magnitude and were clearly provoked. Yes, anarchists were present, but there were not « about 200 » as the press claimed. There were barely 20–30 of them. This can be seen very clearly in the streaming images of many of them. Very strangely, Youtube has removed all the feeds. We were only able to download one that gives a clear picture of exactly what happened outside the park. However, the streaming is not complete. By the time the streamer (who was streaming on stage) exited the Cinquantenaire Park, the entrance streets were already taut with barbed wire and the streets were filled with robocops.
The question of when all this was put in place (probably some time before) and why, and who or what caused the riots, remains open. No announcement has been made by the police. The only thing we see at the beginning of the second part of the stream is a dozen hooligans breaking the windows of a commercial building. The images clearly show that the hooligans were literally chased into the park. They had no other way out. All streets were closed. They could only exit through the main entrance of the park. This was a deliberate strategic act on the part of the administrative police. In this way, they could also drive all the peaceful protesters out of the park, while those hundreds of thousands of people did nothing at all.
The stream also shows that many police officers dressed as hooligans are circulating in the park (as on previous occasions). We see two hooligans dressed in black with a black bandana in front of their faces dragging two other « hooligans » out of the park by force (arrest). Numerous other images I have received in the meantime (and which are circulating on Twitter) show two hooligans dressed in black approaching a row of robocops that has been set up and stepping aside to let their colleagues dressed as hooligans pass.
Coincidentally, there was a massive press presence at the scene of the riots outside the park, and again coincidentally, they all had gas masks with them (and on them) so they could film the event.
They knew it was going to happen, they knew where it was going to happen, and they took all the equipment they needed to film it.
The Mayor Close allows demonstrations because it is a constitutional right, but every time, around 3:30–4:00 pm, riots break out in specific places, far from the large masses, and Close uses this to ban the demonstration and evacuate the place by force, although he knows that the demonstrators are very peaceful. It is his duty to protect the peaceful citizens and keep them safe from the attacks of the rioters, but he does not do so. He uses provoked and staged riots as an excuse to drive everyone out by force. It is not in good faith. And neither does Annelies Verlinden. The fact that she always calls every demonstration « pure violence » and that she calls all the demonstrators right-wing, violent and liars guilty of misinformation (while she herself is shamelessly lying) says enough about the real intentions of this lady.
A citizen