Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau gave a press conference this evening to provide more clarity about the much-discussed report drawn up after a café visit in Sint-Niklaas. There, Rousseau is said to have made racist statements in the presence of officers around 6 a.m. Rousseau remains vague about the content of those statements. The Vooruit chairman avoids questions from journalists and always answers: “It was in a drunken state. I wouldn’t repeat it sober.”
Connor Rousseau took control tonight by organizing a press conference where he could speak for minutes without interruption. Rousseau spoke to the press in the same café where the incident took place. “To provide context and clarity, I thought this was the right place to meet,” the Vooruit chairman starts. “I have always said: the moment I get clarity, I will also give it and that is why I have brought you together today.”
During his statement to the press, Rousseau outlines the incident of that night and admits that he made racist statements. “There has been frustration here in Sint-Niklaas for a long time about nuisance, litter and intimidation. At one point I got into a drunken conversation with officers and expressed the frustration of many people in the neighborhood here in a really wrong way.”
LOOK. Rousseau avoids questions about the concrete contents of the file
“Zattemansklap”
Yet Rousseau remains mum about the content of his statements when the press is given the opportunity to ask some questions. ‘Whether he said the words “brown scum”?’ asks a journalist from another medium on the spot. Rousseau avoids the question. According to him, this is not on the images, but the police say that he did say this.
When the chairman of the Flemish Socialists is presented with other statements, he does not want to comment on anything concrete. For example, VTM News journalist Karel Lattrez asks whether it is true that Rousseau said that “the police would better use the matrak to command respect”, in the context of Roma. “Not literally. I certainly did not literally say it that way,” Rousseau replies.
LOOK. Rousseau answers the question from VTM News journalist Karel Lattrez: “I certainly did not literally say that”
“It is clear that I made an insulting statement towards people from the Roma community,” Rousseau confirms, but he does not use the word racism. “I have made a lot of wrong statements for which I clearly apologize. It was in a drunken state, things that I would never say in a sober state, so I’m not going to repeat them here in a sober state.”
“It doesn’t match who I am. My volunteer work, the person I am, my political commitment… weighs much more heavily than one dull, clumsy moment,” says Rousseau himself of the incident.
If the public prosecutor’s office were to prosecute for racism, Rousseau would not understand that choice. “An intentional moment is needed and that is really not the case with me. Also the condition I was in, you really shouldn’t attach any value to what was said at the time, that’s a lot of nonsense,” said Rousseau.
LOOK. Rousseau again avoids questions about exact statements
“He said that he was very drunk that night and does not want to repeat those words now in a sober state, because he is ashamed of it and does not support it,” VTM News journalist Karel Lattrez said after the press conference. “He confirms pieces that we had already learned, but we don’t find out much more. He does not go further than what we present to him.”
WATCH ALSO. VTM News journalist Karel Lattrez afterwards: “Rousseau does not go further than what we present to him”
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