Urge politicians to stop toying with country's breakup
Some 25,000 people staged a Belgian unity march in Brussels Sunday to vent their anger at a linguistic spat that prevents a government from taking office, stoking speculation Belgium's Dutch and French-speakers would be better off breaking up.
Francophone and Dutch-speaking protesters, many sporting Belgium's black-yellow-and-red flag, gathered at the independence arch in Cinquentenaire park to sing the national anthem and hear speakers urge politicians to work for national unity and stop talk of a breakup of Belgium.
The protest at the soaring arch that marks Belgium's independence from the Netherlands in 1830 was organized by Marie-Claire Houart, 45, a civil servant in the city of Liege.
Her unity petition has been signed by some 140,000 Belgians in recent weeks as efforts to form a government deadlocked in enduring disputes between Dutch-speaking and Francophone politicians. It urged them to "stop wasting money at our expense on quarrels that interest only a small minority (and) respect our nation and its unity."
In a country that is a stranger to flag-waving, the protest was a rare sight.
On a bright but chilly day, scores of Belgian flags, large and small, dotted the crowd on the esplanade below the vast Cinquentenaire arch.
The demonstrators had walked there from the center of Brussels, the officially bilingual but overwhelmingly Francophone capital, long been a focal point of linguistic strife in this country of 6.5 million Dutch and 4 million French-speakers.
The demonstration came on the 161st day after elections in which Christian Democrats and Liberals won 81 of the 150 parliamentary seats. Despite that majority, the would-be partners — each split into Dutch and French-speaking camps — have been unable to form a government due to related disputes that touch on more self-rule for Belgium's two linguistic communities.
The political crisis is rooted in different visions of the future. In Dutch-speaking Flanders, all parties seek, at a minimum, more regional autonomy within a federal Belgium. But politicians in Wallonia, Belgium's much poorer and less populous southern half, see the push for more self-rule hiding an ultimately secessionist agenda.
The 161 days since the June 10 elections have seen an intensifying war of words across the east-west language frontier. Completely souring the mood was a Nov. 7 vote by Flemish parliamentarians to breakup a bilingual, Brussels area voting district against the wishes of all Francophone politicians.
On Sunday, Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian democrat leader and would-be premier, remained invisible, continuing behind-the-scenes contacts with a view to forming a center-right government as yet, officials said.
Until a new government is formed, the outgoing center-left alliance of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt stays on in a caretaker capacity.
Via IHT
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