Eight schools have been set on fire or vandalized in the French-speaking Belgian region of Wallonia over the past few days. In at least six of the cases, a clear link has been established with a campaign launched by radical religious circles, Muslims and Catholics, and extremist and conspiracy movements against class on emotional and sexual relationships (EVRAS), promoted by the French-speaking minister of education, Caroline Désir (Parti Socialiste). "These fires are inadmissible acts of terrorism," Désir said during a visit on Friday, September 15, to one of the burnt schools near Charleroi.
That did not stop some 1,500 people from gathering in central Brussels on Sunday, under the one slogan: "Touchez pas à nos enfants!" ("Don't touch our children!"). In a tense atmosphere, Radya Oulebsir, a Muslim activist and self-proclaimed organizer of the protest, and Alain Escada, a leader of the traditionalist Catholic association Civitas, demanded that the class be stopped. On several of the vandalized buildings, hostile slogans such as "No Evras, sinon les prochains, c’est vous" ("No EVRAS, otherwise you're next") had been spray-painted by the arsonists.
On Friday, the Belgian National Crisis Center reported that anti-terrorism and intelligence services were closely monitoring events. The federal police are expected to relieve local police in the concerned areas in Charleroi and Liège. Contacts have also been established with foreign services ever since the hostile campaign spilled over the borders. In France, rapper Rohff relayed an anti-EVRAS petition in the name of the fight against "pedophilia and perversion." "It's mind-blowing," said Désir's entourage.
In a video posted to social media, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Thursday that he was "deeply shocked" and stressed that access to sex education could not be called into question by anyone. The EVRAS project, officially endorsed on September 7 by a vote of the Parlement de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (which represents the French community), has sparked an intense disinformation campaign on social media. However, it simply extends a course that has been offered since 2012 but whose organization had previously been left to the discretion of school administrations. From now on, it will be compulsory for all students aged 12 and 16. And it will last a total of four hours.
A few hundred people already demonstrated outside the parliamentary building on the day of the vote. Referring to what they had read or heard, some spoke of "a satanic guide for pedophiles" and demanded "education, not sexuality."
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