Cleaner Hans Olieslagers is rinsing the windows of the town hall in Sint-Michielsgestel on Friday. At a protest got out of hand about the arrival of an AZC in Berlicum, hundreds of eggs were thrown against the window on Thursday evening. Hans has to brush through and that on his day off. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“It is now fairly clean, but it was a big mess when I arrived this morning at six o’clock,” says Hans. “The activists have thrown hundreds of eggs against the window.”
Six vegers and a sweeper have already removed part of the mess for the arrival of Hans and his colleagues. With brushes, soap and a high pressure sprayer, they try to leave the town hall as clean as possible for the weekend. “But I think we’ll have to continue on Monday,” says Hans.
The cleaner lives near the town hall and already realized on Thursday evening that things got out of hand. “I knew something was wrong. Friday I normally have a day off, but I live in the neighborhood and it was hard to get colleagues here so that’s why I was here early this morning.”
Hans revers the way in which action is taken, just like other local residents. “They are allowed to demonstrate mine, but do not throw eggs against the windows and destroy things. From our community money, clean must then be cleaned,” says a local resident.
“It was a big noise because of all the fireworks that was set off,” says a woman who lives in the neighborhood. “I understand that people want to demonstrate if they are robbed by the arrival of the AZC, but try to show some humanity. There are also people who have fled from Ukraine for the war and they are now confronted with this.”
“Give people who flee for war the chance to unwind here.”
She herself is not against the arrival of the AZC. “Of the people from Ukraine, but also from men from Syria who have lived here in the area, we never had problems. Gun people who flee for war the chance to unwind here, because as far as I understand it will not have economic flights in this AZC.”
A man who works in the neighborhood is also not pleased with the way of protesting. “It is an expression that people do not feel heard and a lot of anger comes loose, but I don’t think you should talk this well. It’s a shame that it has to be done this way, because our money has to be cleaned now,” he says.
The action group ‘Nature says NO to AZC’ does not support the arrival of the AZC, because it has to be built on a meadow that lies against a protected nature reserve. The action group is afraid of damage to nature.
“I am emotional under it.”
“We distance ourselves from the events that occurred on Tuesday,” says Dionne Kuper of the action group. “I slept very badly and am emotional under it.”
The action group is still against the arrival of the AZC, but wants to get this done through a common legal road. For example with a petition that has since been signed three thousand times.
“We live in a democracy, so of course you can demonstrate, but in a way that fits within the decency standards,” Kuper closes.
