The deadly attack on a police officer committed by a radical Islamist on November 10 in Brussels has become a state affair and two ministers were on the defensive on Monday November 14 during an emergency meeting of the Belgian Parliament. One, Vincent Van Quickenborne, holder of the justice portfolio, “reaching out” to police unions for “see what can be done better” in order to ensure their protection. The other, Annelies Verlinden, responsible for the interior, advocating ” serenity “ and the refusal to add “from hate to hate”.
Torn between anger and incomprehension, many agents had gathered the same morning in front of the capital’s courthouse to pay tribute to their 29-year-old colleague, stabbed at the wheel of his vehicle while his teammate was injured. Their attacker, Yassine Mahi, a 32-year-old Belgian-Moroccan, ex-convict on file “S”, classified “proselytizing and potentially violent”was wounded and arrested by another patrol.
This attack quickly generated many questions, as well as calls for resignation. Because the perpetrator had, that very morning, asked for psychological help in order, he would have explained in a police station in his neighborhood, to prevent him from committing an attack because of his ” clothes “ from the police.
No obvious error
Taken to a hospital, he was able to slip away, without the knowledge of the police, before being taken care of. The hospital services indicated that the dangerousness of the individual had not been communicated to them, which implies that they could have acted differently towards him. Magistrates, relying on procedures now in question, indicated that despite the threats he had made and his reputation as a manipulator, Yassine Mahi could not be arrested or placed under observation.
Therefore, has everything been done to avoid the death of the young policeman? To this question, even the Minister of Justice did not dare to answer, citing in particular the need to improve the rules for admission to psychiatry and contacts between the services responsible for radicalization. With, in passing, a swipe at social organizations that would not organize ” no return “ towards the federal services responsible for security, invoking respect for professional secrecy.
For the rest, the minister took refuge behind the public prosecutor of Brussels, author of a first investigation report which concluded that no obvious error could be noted. “Incomprehensible”judged members of the Flemish nationalist opposition, believing that the Brussels public prosecutor’s office is ” out of control “. “We are witnessing a huge mess: everyone has in fact respected their prerogatives, but everyone has not known what to do with the individual concerned”lamented François De Smet, of the Independent Federalist Democratic Party.
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