About a thousand people, according to police, demonstrated on Sunday in a public park in Liège, in eastern Belgium, to protest against anti-Covid restrictions, including the wearing of masks.
The demonstration, organized at the call of several groups of citizens, took on the appearance of a big dancing party, around a sound system mounted on a small platform with a DJ, noted an AFP-TV journalist. demonstrators did not wear masks and sometimes danced clinging to each other, especially when forming a caterpillar waving to the rhythm of the music.
"I understand that some are afraid",
but
"psychologically speaking, it is much more urgent to be here than to be at home locked up,"
said Valène Mewissen, a student who had joined the rally.
She assured that several gatherings of young people who intervened recently in this park of La Boverie, well known to the students of Liège,
“had shown that there is no increase in cases here”
in the large Walloon city.
"I am anti-mask, (...) we must be free,
" said Muriel Deroy for his part.
In this rally, which began around 11 am and which numbered around 500 people at midday, the crowd gradually became denser, taking advantage of the mild weather,
"to reach a thousand people by the end of the afternoon"
, said a spokesperson for the local police.
Belgium entered a new phase of stricter restrictions on Saturday, providing in particular access to non-essential shops by appointment only for four weeks.