Month: March 2024

As the European election campaign gathers pace, the European bishops have made their own distinctive tone-deaf contribution. A joint statement published on March 13th gives voice to 27 bishops from the 27 European Union member states. They call for “a responsible vote in favour of Christian values and the European project.” This ambitious and noble-sounding programme conceals some deep ambiguities.

The text comes from the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union. Made up of delegates from the bishops’ conferences of the EU member states, it has a permanent secretariat in Brussels. It has no particular canonical authority, but it does have the merit of offering a fairly representative cross-section of part of the Catholic ‘establishment.’

The commission’s statement is a fine example of Europeanist rhetoric and shows that the representatives of the episcopate have perfectly integrated the language of the European authorities. Reflecting on the origins of the European project, they hail the advent—since the end of the Second World War—of a Europe “united in diversity, strong, democratic, free, peaceful, prosperous and just,” designed to help a battered continent rise from its ashes.

It’s worth noting the stylistic clause stating that the European project has made war on our continent “practically” impossible. It’s all in the ‘practically.’ The bishops do not forget to pay tribute to those of the founding fathers who were Catholics and whose work must be resolutely continued today. They place themselves under the patronage of the late Jacques Delors, a European Catholic whose veneration is authorised on the altars of the right-thinking. Before being a convinced European, he was above all a French socialist in the service of one of the most disastrous presidents of the Fifth Republic, François Mitterrand. 

Praise of the European project seems somewhat abstract and disconnected from the realities of Europe as it is being made and built today. The “strong,” “fair” and “democratic” nature of the European Union has yet to be demonstrated. What can be said of the motto “united in diversity”, when the institutions of Brussels are striving methodically to erase all the particularities of the nation states, be they cultural, religious or political? In this respect, Pope Francis just unexpectedly raised his voice in defence of Hungary, and in favour of the European Union taking a little more care to respect its specificities in “diversity.”

But let’s now get to the heart of the declaration, which contains some voting instructions to help Catholic voters—and beyond that, all bonae voluntatis voters—when it comes to readying their paper for the ballot box. To do this, the bishops are keen to remind us of the challenges facing Europe in the future, which are worth getting involved in: “wars in Europe and in the neighbourhood, migration and asylum, climate change, growing digitalization and use of artificial intelligence, Europe’s new role in the world, enlargement of the European Union and change in the Treaties.” The least we can say is that in terms of the “common good,” this is a programme deliberately restricted to a few biased issues. 

On that basis, according to these good bishops, we should vote enthusiastically for those who “clearly support the European project”—a European project that we have just been told is all about “migration, asylum and climate change.” In a flash of lucidity—remembering that after all, they speak in the name of the Roman Catholic Church—the bishops of Dijon, Eisenstadt, Zagreb, and Latina and their comrades add that we must vote for those who “clearly support the European project,” because these candidates will undoubtedly be keen to defend “our values and our idea of Europe, such as respect and promotion of the dignity of every human person, solidarity, equality, family and the sanctity of life, democracy, freedom, subsidiarity, care for our ‘common home’.”

And therein lies the rub. The bishops, in their great naiveté—or culpable blindness, as the case may be—imagine that those who “clearly support the European project” are the same ones who will respect the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of life. But we conservatives, who carefully scrutinise the speeches of European parliamentarians in Brussels and Strasbourg every day, are desperately looking for these rare birds, currently nowhere to be seen. When they do make some brief appearances, the timid voice of these all too rare heroes—wandering between the benches of the ECR, ID or EPP groups—struggles hard to make itself heard.

Today, the parliamentary groups that are officially recognised as being the worthy successors of the founding fathers and the most determined to take Europe further and further—Renew, the Socialists like ‘Father’ Delors, the EPP to a lesser extent—are those that sacrifice themselves to political correctness and show themselves to be the most determined to destroy the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of life. 

Today, in France, the homeland of Jacques Delors, the fashion is for abortion—a cardinal virtue now enshrined in the marble of the constitution, and soon, for euthanasia. President Macron’s party, which claims to be one of the champions of tomorrow’s Europe, is even working hard to have abortion added to the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. But of this, our brave bishops say not a word, not a single word, not even a discreet hint that insiders could understand. They certainly consider this would lead them too far and could damage the “European project.” They prefer stratospheric generalities full of good feelings to a precise diagnosis of the evil that is eating away at Europe.

In Brussels, the European institutions have become one of the vectors accelerating Europe’s plunge into wokism and the promotion of LGBT demands. Countries that try, whatever the cost, to limit abortion or homosexual propaganda are under constant pressure. They are singled out and repeatedly blackmailed, like Malta and Hungary, in the hope that they will finally fall into line. The European Commission and Parliament are working methodically to promote surrogacy and deconstruct the traditional family model. Their daily attacks are resolutely in line with a progressive agenda that a highly organised lobby is responsible for carrying out. But the bishops are careful not to denounce this in their press release.  

But let’s give them some credit for a drop of realism: “We know that the European Union is not perfect and that many of its policy and legal proposals are not in line with Christian values and with the expectations of many of its people, but we believe that we are called to contribute and improve it with the tools democracy offers us”, they say. 

European voters thank the bishops for this observation. They will have to make up their own minds before supporting those who could potentially ‘improve’ Mrs von der Leyen’s Brussels paradise. Who knows? Dreaming of the white blackbird may well end up making it exist.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/searching-for-european-values-how-eu-bishops-miss-the-point/

In a massive crackdown on patriotic activists working to halt mass immigration to France, 12 arrests have been made of former Generation Identity members for “reforming” an illegal group under the name Argos. The French Interior Ministry indicated that four more individuals were being sought by police.

As Remix News has documented, the Generation Identity organization was banned in 2021 by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin after it staged several peaceful and legal demonstrations against the government’s pro-migration stance. In a series of interviews, a number of the activists involved in the organization spoke to Remix News about the ban, the legal consequences, and the repression of their right to protest.

However, some of these activists created a new group known as Argos, which has been involved in several prominent protests. Now, Darmanin is targeting the new group, with the Paris prosecutor’s office indicating the Argos members are being charged with pursuing the “offense of maintaining a dissolved organization.”

The group says it defends the interests of the French

For instance, last year, after French woman Mégane was brutally raped by a migrant, Oumar Ndiaye, the group became active in protesting on her behalf.

Ndiaye’s 29-year-old victim was raped with a 29-inch-long broomstick, with the injuries so terrible that she was placed in an artificial coma for over a month after the attack. The rape was described as an “act of torture” that left hospital staff in tears.

Her father was not shy either about what he thought about the political class of France, saying: “(The government) not communicating about this attack gives credit to all these sexual predators and other parasites of society who plague the streets. A wake-up call to the government about the fact that we leave this kind of individual, with a heavy criminal past, in complete freedom, would be welcome. ‘Trust in justice,’ we were told… We only want that,” he said.

According to the father, the ruling political class of France ignored the case, which is when Argos stepped in and staged street protests on behalf of the woman and her family. However, Remix News already reported at the time that six members of Argos involved in those protests, faced criminal prosecution and potential sentences of up to five years in prison for their participation.

At the time, the group released a statement, writing: “Argos supports Mégane and her family as she comes out of a coma. Savagely attacked and raped by Oumar N. last August, Mégane finally came out of the coma today but remains in a fragile state. The Argos activists therefore went to the hospital in Cherbourg where she is being treated in order to show her our support. A donation was also made via a fund set up recently.”

The group has also been active in protesting on behalf of Thomas, who was brutally stabbed to death by a gang of migrants earlier this year. After the murder, the group wrote on X.

“Thomas’ death is not trivial, you are not safe anywhere. Even the countryside is affected. Shelters do not exist: The only solution is self-defense. Share this call: It’s time to join your family,” wrote the organization.

La mort de Thomas n'est pas anodine, tu n'es en sécurité nulle part.

Même la campagne est touchée.

Les refuges n'existent pas : la seule solution, c'est l'autodéfense.

Partage cet appel : il est temps de rejoindre les tiens #thomas #drome #crepol #sécurité… pic.twitter.com/OgnSuAMbZF

— Argos (@Argos_france) November 20, 2023

Argos, like Generation Identity, partook in street demonstrations, often deploying banners and smoke bombs. It also organized mixed martial arts retreats; however, the group itself promoted non-violence and only organized such events for self-defense and team building. However, despite its actions being non-violent, Darmanin justified his decision to ban Generation Identity because it can “be considered as presenting the character of a private militia.”

Some Generation Identity activists splintered into a number of different organizations after the ban, others got into politics, and some simply took a step back from political activism. However, Argos is notable due to its size and the fact that it promoted its actions successfully on social media, was well organized, and had national reach.

The group was actively recruiting French citizens and partaking in street actions, which it posted on platforms like X.

Partout en France, les militants d’Argos se mobilisent pour afficher le visage de Thomas.

Ce meurtre anti-blanc ne doit pas tomber dans l’oubli.

Rejoignez-nous et faites de même

Ici à Rouen #Thomas #Crepol #Autodefense pic.twitter.com/wB4n9gb3QJ

— Argos (@Argos_france) November 25, 2023

Collage à Montpellier

Rejoins les tiens, rejoins Argos #militant #autodefense pic.twitter.com/xb2mPeAH9L

— Argos (@Argos_france) January 30, 2024

https://www.rmx.news/crime/france-12-anti-immigration-activists-arrested-for-forming-argos-group-4-others-sought-by-police-in-massive-crackdown/

Back in 2015, Justin Trudeau was asked about the rise in sexual violence against women. “I don’t know where exactly to point my finger,” Trudeau replied. “I think there’s probably an awful lot of factors that come together to shape societal behaviors, whether it’s certain types of music – there’s a lot of misogyny in certain types of music. There’s issues around pornography and its prevalence now and its accessibility, which is something I’m really wrapping my head around as a father of kids who are approaching their teen years.” 

I was surprised at the time – to hear a Trudeau expressing concern about any aspect of the Sexual Revolution was, to say the least, unexpected. Now, however, he seems to have recanted his previous concern about the impact of pornography. Last month, he attacked Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for endorsing some form of age-verification for pornography websites as a way of protecting minors from stumbling across such material. The average age of first exposure to pornography in Canada is 12; the material they are encountering overwhelmingly consists of sexual brutality against women and girls. 

At a housing announcement in Cape Breton, Trudeau insisted that seeking to protect kids from porn was a bad thing, actually. “[Pierre’s] proposing that adults should have to give their ID and personal information to sketchy websites or create a digital ID for adults to be able to browse the web where they want,” Trudeau claimed. “That’s something we stand against.” Poilievre and the Conservatives, for the record, do not support requiring users to verify age through a digital ID. Trudeau went on to claim that Poilievre’s support for age verification was hypocritical because he opposes the disastrous Liberal “Online Harms” bill, which even feminist author Margaret Atwood has condemned as “Orwellian.” 

Poilivre spokesperson Sebastian Skamski responded to Trudeau by stating that adults should be “free to view what they like assuming the content itself is legal,” and stated that: “But children cannot legally purchase pornography in person, and most Canadians have accepted that fact for many decades. If Justin Trudeau believes that those same children should be able to freely access pornography online, he is free to say so.” Indeed, I would say that he already has. (For the record, I think that porn should be banned and I have detailed the fact that this would be very possible in Canada.) 

One of Canada’s key anti-porn advocates is the Liberal-appointed Quebec Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, who noted that countries such as Germany, France, and the U.K. have all drafted age verification laws. “If you’re a minor, you can’t see a movie if it’s classified 18 years and over. If you’re a minor, you can’t buy a Playboy. But if you’re a minor, you have complete, unfettered access without barriers of any kind to 4.5 million porn sites around the world,” Miville-Dechêne told the CBC. Her anti-porn bill passed the Senate last year, and is now being spearheaded in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Karen Vecchio as Bill S-210, the “Young Person from Exposure to Pornography Act.”  

In response, Pornhub has threatened to block the entire country, as they recently did with Texas and other states. We should be so lucky. 

Despite gaining support from Bloc Quebecois, Conservative, Liberal, and NDP MPs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his cabinet, and the vast majority of his MPs voted against protecting children from pornography. Why? It’s a good question. Any claims about privacy concerns are laughable coming from Trudeau, especially considering his draconian Online Harms bill. It seems more likely that the Liberals simply do not wish to curtail any sexual freedom at all – and if that means that children will continue to be exposed to horrifying sexual violence against women and girls online so that adults can arouse themselves to scenes of sexualized brutality, then so be it. 

But we should be calling them out and stating this in blunt terms every chance we get. 

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/trudeau-remains-unwilling-to-back-age-verification-for-porn-sites-despite-bipartisan-support/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=usa

Three minors and one adult were arrested around ten days ago. They had planned to attack a Brussels event hall, but not only that. We found out that they were also planning to attack the Eiffel Tower with explosives. Several people are still being wanted.

They don’t know each other in real life, but chat about Islamic State for hours on the Signal app.

Some of the members of the group search the dark web for weapons, others make do with knives. A meeting was held on Friday, March 1. They plan to act the following Monday, as a source close to the case tells us: “The police report will be sent on Saturday morning and taken into account, as there are concrete indications of an imminent attack. The plan is to operate in Brussels on Monday evening. The police operation will be decided and carried out on Saturday during the day or evening. The DSU (Direction des Unités Spéciales) will be set up during the night from Saturday to Sunday”.

(…) “Some talked about meeting in Paris. They talked about planting explosives at the foot of the Eiffel Tower to make it fall down. There was one who was always talking about suicide attacks with pile-driving vans. It was the Frenchman who was always talking about such attacks,” said one source.

(…) The radicalised young man, who describes himself as a Salafist, has been attending a mosque for a year and a half, but considers it too lax. A relative confides in him: “In just one year, his attitude changed: beard, long hair, prayer robes. He became cold, distant, withdrawn and moralising. He brushed aside the fears of those who feared religious radicalisation and replied tirelessly that he had simply found his faith…”. RTL.be

« Des explosifs aux pieds de la tour Eiffel » : des jeunes islamistes Belges auraient tenté de planifier un attentat à Paris ; 3 mineurs et un majeur arrêtés – Fdesouche

In a television interview watched by millions, Pope Francis recently made a comment about hell that has been widely reported.

In the words of the Catholic News Agency:

“When asked by the interviewer, Fabio Fazio, how he ‘imagines hell,’ Pope Francis gave a short response. ‘What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is.’”

I have a different — indeed, completely opposite — view.

I should make it clear that I, too, hope that sometime in the future — hopefully the near future — no one will be sent to hell. That would mean goodness had finally so prevailed on Earth that not one person was deserving of punishment in the afterlife.

But as of this moment, I fervently hope that some people are in hell — or whatever one wishes to call punishment after life; just as I hope some people are in heaven — or whatever one wishes to call reward in an afterlife.

Why? Because if no one is punished after death, that would mean either there is no God or, equally depressing, it would mean God is not just.

It should be added that if no one is punished, the corollary would mean that no one is rewarded. Pure logic dictates it is not possible to have an afterlife in which people were rewarded but not punished. It would mean either everyone is rewarded — which would mean there is no justice — or only some are rewarded. But if only some are rewarded, that means those who are deprived of reward are thereby punished.

It shows how little serious thought is given to the subject that a vast number of people do not think the existence of a heaven and a hell are important subjects and/or dismiss them as religious nonsense.

This absence of serious thought can be easily demonstrated. Let’s imagine a society in which there were no rewards or punishments. I suspect almost no one — though not no one, as we shall see — thinks that would be a good society. How many people would want to live in a society in which murderers and rapists were never punished while people who engaged in exceptional goodness were never rewarded?

If that doesn’t make the case, let’s not imagine a whole society. Let’s imagine a school. Would you send your child to a school in which students who routinely disturbed their classes and flunked all their subjects were never punished and students who excelled behaviorally and academically were never rewarded?

I assume not. So why, then, would anyone want such a scenario for all of life? Why would anyone want people who committed terrible evils not to be punished and people who committed heroic, self-sacrificing good acts not to be rewarded?

This is why I wrote that there is an absence of serious thought on this issue. What people would find utterly objectionable in their society or even just in their child’s school, they are at peace with regarding life.

But there is more to this issue. People are in fact increasingly at peace with no reward or punishment in this life. This is the egalitarian impulse that is coming to dominate intellectual life. More and more people are in fact advocating such a society. No more “retributive justice.” No more merit-based standards. No more valedictorians. No more failing grades. No more SATs. Indeed, no more standards. No more bail. No more punishment if you are caught stealing less than a thousand dollars’ worth of goods. No more prosecutors who prosecute. Only “equity.”

I am convinced that is what animated Pope Francis’ words. Note that he said he was stating his opinion, not church dogma. And as a man of the Left, he’s uncomfortable with reward and especially punishment. As an egalitarian, the thought that anyone is in hell disturbs him.

So, why do people who think like the Pope oppose rewards and punishments?

Because rewards and punishments mean that one must make judgments about better and worse — morally, academically and in most other spheres of life. It’s better to just assume no one is better than anyone else. That is what has animated participation trophies — no one, not even a team, is better or worse. In much of the contemporary intellectual world, the greatest sin is judging sin. And when you do away with sin, you do away with hell.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-pope-hopes-no-one-is-in-hell/

Our Senior Fellow Rafe Heydel-Mankoo took part in a panel debate on Turkish television’s TRT World, to debate whether the Church of England should create a £1 Billion fund to atone for its investment fund having an historic link to slavery. Here is the link to the full video on the TRT World channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34iWO…

A man convicted of the horrific sexual abuse of a young girl has been engaged in a lawsuit against the Washington Department of Corrections, claiming they have not fulfilled their end of the bargain on a “gender affirming care” agreement, and seeking $400,000 in compensation.

Brooke Lyn Sonia, formerly known as Brett David Sonia, was convicted in 2005 and 2006 on dozens of charges related to the sexual exploitation of a child. Sonia had first initiated contact with the child in Strafford County, New Hampshire, where he began sexually abusing the girl and photographing the lewd acts, but would later take the victim across state lines to Los Angeles County, California where he would continue to sexually exploit her.

Early news coverage from the case suggest the girl, who was 13 at the time, had been groomed by Sonia into creating child sexual exploitation material.

Jury selection in Strafford County was said to be “difficult,” with over one dozen potential jurors admitting they would not be able to sit on the case due to its highly disturbing nature.

As previously exclusively revealed by Reduxx, Sonia was ultimately handed sentences in both California and New Hampshire, with the latter taking the lead in his prison term. After a minimum of 22.5 years are served towards his New Hampshire sentence, which maxes out in 2047, a Los Angeles County court will decide whether he is to serve additional time in California.

But after being incarcerated, Sonia wasn’t kept in New Hampshire. 

As part of the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC), Sonia was sent to Washington to serve a portion of his sentence in 2016, one year after beginning to identify as transgender. The ICC allows states to share correctional resources, and move inmates to cross-border facilities which may be better suited to their needs. Sonia was moved between multiple male facilities in Washington, and left a trail of complaints with regards to not being given adequate access to “gender affirming care,” such as women’s underwear and laser hair removal.

In 2022, Sonia was finally moved into a women’s prison in Washington state. A source with a family member at the Washington Correctional Center for Women (WCCW) came forward to speak with Reduxx and pass on information from the female inmates inside, who claimed that Sonia frequently “changes” his gender identity, and has reportedly told some of the female inmates that he identifies as a man.

But months after Reduxx broke the news on Sonia’s transfer, he appears to have launched a lawsuit against ten staff members associated with the Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) both at WCCW and the male prison Sonia had previously been held at, citing “cruel and unusual punishment.”

In a legal complaint obtained by Reduxx, Sonia alleges that the defendants denied him “adequate medical care with deliberate indifference,” and caused him “severe emotional anguish” as a result.

According to the complaint, Sonia says that he entered into an agreement with staff from the WDOC in 2020 promising facial hair removal and “gender confirmation surgery” in the form of breast implants.

As a result of not receiving these taxpayer-funded procedures in a timely fashion, Sonia claims he has suffered severe and debilitating anxiety, depression, weight gain and loss, and anger issues.

Other matters brought forward in the suit include a claim by Sonia that money was “unlawfully seized” from his inmate account. This seizure appears to be related to legal financial obligations which may have included compensation to his victim, but Sonia claims he should not have been subjected to the seizure of his funds. A third matter involves Sonia being registered to alcohol and drug programs he says were not required, with the inmate accusing members of WDOC staff of “fudging” his record to justify the enrollment.

In response, Attorney General Robert Ferguson, who is representing the defendants, admitted that an agreement had been struck between Sonia and correctional officials regarding “gender affirming care,” but denied that Sonia was entitled to any relief for his various complaints.

The case is progressing and appears to be headed for a jury trial.

In Sonia’s complaint, he highlighted that other inmates in WDOC custody had been offered hair removal and breast augmentation services, and while he did not specify who, it is likely one of the inmates he is referring to is Nonnie Marcella Lotusflower, another trans-identified male inmate at WCCW.

Born Nathan Goninan, Lotusflower was provided “gender affirming” breast implants in June of 2022 by the state of Washington while serving a 10-year sentence for the brutal murder of a teen girl.

In May of 2023, Reduxx learned from an internal source that Lotusflower had reportedly been “gifted” a Victoria’s Secret bra by the facility despite the brand not being an approved retailer allowed into WCCW.

https://reduxx.info/exclusive-child-rapist-housed-in-womens-prison-sues-washington-department-of-corrections-officials-for-breast-implants/

By Olivia Murray

As I’ve noted before, from time to time I’ll check in on the Young Global Leaders website, making mental notes of the newcomers. YGL is an “initiative” of the World Economic Forum to “drive public-private co-operation in the global public interest.” For context, it appears as though selected candidates will undergo a year-long initiation process, which includes WEF “programming,” networking opportunities, and seminars. After “graduation,” members of the class may apply to be incorporated into the “alumni” community.

Naturally, I focus on those in the “North America” region because those are the names I most often recognize. Yet today, while writing a blog on Tyson Foods and its decision to fire Americans and hire illegals (click here to read that one), I realized that YGL seems to be scrubbing the names of certain American acolytes.

I only discovered this when I went looking for Tyson Foods CFO John R. Tyson because he did not pop up in either the “New Class” tab or the “Community” tab (I always check both because I don’t know at what point during the year classes begin and end). I was able to find him, but only if I typed “Tyson” into the search bar—and boom! There he was.

Then, it got me thinking—was anyone else missing? By golly, yes they were! Two names (at least) that I found rather interesting: Representative Colin Allred, a Texas Democrat, and Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo. (Now, I’ve taken some heat in the past with readers being upset that I’ve noted this inconvenient fact regarding Maria’s alliances, but “don’t shoot the messenger” is apropos.)

And even more interesting things happen when you type “Bartiromo” or “Allred” into the search bar: Unlike Tyson, these two seem to be completely gone from the website. Now, of course, since these two profiles have seemingly been erased from YGL, I went to the Wayback Machine, which proved invaluable.

Here is Maria Bartiromo, screenshotted January 10, 2021 and here is Representative Allred, screenshotted May 26, 2022. Here’s an old press release from Allred’s office announcing his selection into the 2022 class, and, if you follow Bartiromo’s LinkedIn profile to her linked personal website, you arrive at Bartiromo.com, and find that she apparently “overseas [sic] the Board of the Young Global Leaders [emphasis added] of the World Economic Forum.”

Lastly, here’s a 2008 Bloomberg article highlighting Bartiromo as a “YGLer” — as well as Anderson Cooper, Elon Musk, Gavin Newsom, and Leonardo DiCaprio….

Did Allred and Bartiromo decide to leave the alumni community? What about Cooper, Musk, Newsom, and DiCaprio? Because none of their names appear on the YGL website either.

Is it all just a bunch of glitches?

Maybe, or maybe it’s because the battle for the American way of life is hitting fever pitch as we roll into the 2024 election, and anti-American globalists, especially ones we might consider our allies, need to fly under the radar.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/03/why_is_klaus_schwabs_website_quietly_delisting_the_names_of_his_american_allies.html

A brawl in connection with Ramadan. The incidents took place on March 16 at the Mesnil-Amelot administrative detention centre (Seine-et-Marne) “due to disputes related to Ramadan”, a police source told Valeurs actuelles. Mohamed B. punched Amadou F. with his fist. A little later, another prisoner punched Amadou F. in the back of the head and kicked him. The two attackers, Mohamed B., a Tunisian national, and Rahim A., an Algerian national, were placed in solitary confinement in preventive detention. The victim stated that he wanted to press charges against the two attackers.
Conflicts in connection with Ramadan are steadily increasing. Most recently, an Algerian person of Catholic faith was attacked because she had eaten pork in a residential home in Etampes (Essonne). The victim was threatened with a knife and received kicks and punches because some people did not tolerate the victim eating pork.

On Friday March 15, Marion Maréchal declared on the TV programme “Touche pas à mon poste!” that, in her opinion, “Ramadan is the barometer of the Islamisation of French society”. “Since Monday, we have been living in the Islamic period: France 2 is doing its big Ramadan night, advertising everywhere, the mayor of Lyon is stopping building work for it, etc.,” added the lead candidate of Eric Zemmour’s party for the European elections. She said that this Islamic festival is “omnipresent” and that she does not want “Ramadan to become a French festival like Christmas or Easter”, as she “adheres to a certain idea of French identity”.

Le Mesnil-Amelot : une rixe liée au ramadan éclate dans un centre de rétention administrative – Valeurs actuelles

A Belgian police raid targeting a suspect allegedly involved in illegal car dealing, drugs and arms trafficking became deadly.

One officer was killed, with a second left fighting for life. The alleged perpetrator also died.

In the early hours of March 18, elite Belgian police from the Directorate of Special Units (DSU) were called in to tackle a reportedly dangerous suspect in a house in the city of Charleroi.

The suspected criminal was lying in waiting for them and, as the elite units entered the house, he opened fire, hitting three officers.

The police retreated to attend to the injured and reinforcements were called in.

One 36-year-old officer was killed, while his 33-year-old comrade was seriously injured and is now in intensive care. A third officer sustained minor injuries.

In a later press conference, Vincent Fiasse, Charleroi prosecutor, described what had happened in what was one of several such operations targeting a criminal gang.

Fiasse said police identified themselves in the raid around 6am on the morning and first encountered a woman. The suspect then appeared from behind a door, pulled out a weapon and shot at the officers.

When the wounded policemen were retrieved, others moved in. They discovered the gunman, now also severely injured. He was arrested and rushed to the hospital, where he died of his wounds.

The shootings took place in what is regarded as a quiet neighbourhood. Residents have said the deceased suspect and his family had never exhibited any untoward behaviour and were known for their friendly demeanour.

The DSU has had members injured before but the March 18 loss of an officer is the first in recent memory.

Annelies Verlinden, interior minister and head of the Belgian police, called it “a black day for the police family and all security forces”.

“Our thoughts are with the victims’ families and colleagues. We will do everything we can to support them,” she said.

Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt added: “I heard the same news about this nightmare this morning. On behalf of our Government, I express my utmost respect for the police.”

Opposition party N-VA called for a meeting of the House Committee on Home Affairs as soon as possible to discuss the incident.

The right-wing Vlaams Belang party pointed the finger at policymakers, saying: “Something is going seriously wrong,” adding: “Everything radiating authority has a target on its back.”

Politicians of all stripes offered their condolences along with all police units.

Federal Judicial Police Commissioner-General Eric Snoeck said: “This morning, as all days, dozens of colleagues, dozens of federal agents, got up early, said goodbye to their families to do their duty.

“With the will, as always, to do their job correctly, also in the service of the people. One of us will not return home, another is fighting against death, yet another is [suffering from] his injuries.”

Snoeck commended the professionalism exhibited by his force but lamented that “even with such dedication, it was insufficient to prevent an incident of this magnitude, unprecedented in recent police history”.

He appealed for compassion and support for the victims and asked the press to act with due respect to the victims and their families.

An investigation into murder and attempted murder of the officers has been opened by the authorities.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/03/belgium-shooting-leaves-one-officer-dead-and-two-wounded/