“I’m really fed up with all those little bastards”: Paul Magnette (PS) lashes out at vandalists in his hometown of Charleroi | Interior

Paul Magnette, mayor of Charleroi and PS chairman, reacts furiously to the vandalists who stole the head of the statue of cartoon character Guust Flater, or Gaston Lagaffe, in his city. “It’s really hopeless. I’ve really had enough of all those little bastards,” said Magnette. He wants to find the “troublemakers” as quickly as possible and “punish as severely as possible”.

The theft caused a lot of commotion in the Walloon city of Charleroi last week. The statue of the French-speaking cartoon character, Guust Flater, was vandalized and then his head was ripped off and stolen. The head was found a few days later, but the city does not stop there. Charleroi has filed a complaint and has ordered an active search for the perpetrators.

For the mayor of Charleroi, Paul Magnette, the vandalism is “unacceptable”. “It is really hopeless,” he responds to a local news channel. “We do everything we can to maintain the public space of the city, but there are always little idiots – I don’t know what else to call them – to affect the environment,” said the PS member. “I’m really tired of all those little bastards damaging public space.”

Magnette wants to track down and punish the “troublemakers” as quickly as possible. “We have CCTV and will do everything we can to find them. They should be punished as severely as possible.

The statue of Gaston Lagaffe and the famous taxi before the beheading. © MH

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