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Belgian anti-racism activist forced to flee town in blackface row
Source: The Guardian
Belgian anti-racism activist forced to flee town in blackface row
Folkloric festival urged to ditch practice of parading a chained white man in black makeup
Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Mon 26 Aug 2019 14.35 BST Last modified on Mon 26 Aug 2019 19.50 BST
An anti-racism activist has said he was forced to leave the Belgian town of Ath on Sunday after a row with local authorities about a folkloric festival.
A carnival float featuring a white man in blackface called “the savage” featured on Sunday as part of Ath’s annual festival, despite calls to abandon the practice, which campaigners say is an act of “symbolic violence” towards black people in Belgium.
Mouhad Reghif, a spokesman for the Brussels Panthers, who is leading a campaign against blackface, said he had been expelled from the town on the mayor’s orders after being spotted by the police. He said officers had followed him for 30km on the motorway to make sure he left.
The mayor of Ath, Bruno Lefèbvre, said Reghif was spotted on Ath’s main square by security services at 9.30am on Sunday. “Given the comments that have been made on the web these past weeks, comments that have shocked the Athoise population, I explained to him that we could not guarantee his safety. The interview passed well and he left the town,” Lefèbvre told Belgian media.
The row blew up after the Brussels Panthers petitioned Unesco to remove the centuries-old Ath street festival from its “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” list, unless organisers abandoned the practice of parading a white man in blackface wearing chains.
-snip-
Folkloric festival urged to ditch practice of parading a chained white man in black makeup
Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Mon 26 Aug 2019 14.35 BST Last modified on Mon 26 Aug 2019 19.50 BST
An anti-racism activist has said he was forced to leave the Belgian town of Ath on Sunday after a row with local authorities about a folkloric festival.
A carnival float featuring a white man in blackface called “the savage” featured on Sunday as part of Ath’s annual festival, despite calls to abandon the practice, which campaigners say is an act of “symbolic violence” towards black people in Belgium.
Mouhad Reghif, a spokesman for the Brussels Panthers, who is leading a campaign against blackface, said he had been expelled from the town on the mayor’s orders after being spotted by the police. He said officers had followed him for 30km on the motorway to make sure he left.
The mayor of Ath, Bruno Lefèbvre, said Reghif was spotted on Ath’s main square by security services at 9.30am on Sunday. “Given the comments that have been made on the web these past weeks, comments that have shocked the Athoise population, I explained to him that we could not guarantee his safety. The interview passed well and he left the town,” Lefèbvre told Belgian media.
The row blew up after the Brussels Panthers petitioned Unesco to remove the centuries-old Ath street festival from its “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” list, unless organisers abandoned the practice of parading a white man in blackface wearing chains.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/26/belgian-anti-racism-activist-forced-to-flee-town-in-blackface-row
Anti-racism campaigners have called on Unesco to remove the festival from its cultural heritage list. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images