Video: Firemen soak cops in foam protesting cuts in Brussels

I came across this video today and thought I would share it here.

The Belgian Fire Service were aiming to protest the budget cuts outside of the Belgian Prime Minister's offices. However, the Police had blocked off the road and were prepared with riot gear.

This did not stop the Fire Service Ofiicers from protesting anyway. Burning tyres in the street and then deciding to cover the Police Officers in foam.



Take a look at the Police Officer's face at 0:47 of the video. Priceless!!

In all fairness though the Police didn't react and the Fire Service Ofiicers were allowed to continue. Shame the Police didn't join the Fire Service, that would have sent out a BIG message to the elitists.

Here, the cops would have gunned down the fire department. They really hate that people like firefighters and distrust the cops.

Like Dad always said, the difference is that you don't have to take inventory of your house if the firefighters have been there. With cops, you don't know what they took.

reply to post by Bedlam


I don't think the Police in the U.K would just stand there and take it either.

Modernisation is constantly being thrown around by our politicians, but I do not see the political system being modernised i.e cuts in their salaries, less M.P's, changes to their pension plans, no smoking in the Parliamentary bar etc, etc.

Maybe they should have chosen a day when the politicians were participating in a photo shoot, now that would have been much more fun to watch!! (although this is quite funny)

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


These firemen v. police stand offs are so strange to me. Very dissonance inducing but the two fields are actually pretty different. It was nice to see the police just standing there and taking it. Way better than what happened in Greece:

i.huffpost.com...

Bedlam
Here, the cops would have gunned down the fire department. They really hate that people like firefighters and distrust the cops.

Like Dad always said, the difference is that you don't have to take inventory of your house if the firefighters have been there. With cops, you don't know what they took.

The funny and scary thing is you are possible quite true! Funcary? Scaruny?

Star for you.

As long as no one gets hurt, then why not. You see the firemen intentionally using non violent means to demonstrate.

I dont think my man hood would allow me to respond with force to getting covered in spray of water or foam... Other law enforcement agencies on the other hand...Would consider this assault with deadly weapon? or "its coming right at us!"..?

reply to post by WhiteAlice


Yes the 2 fields are different, but both paid out of the public purse.

I don't know what cuts have been adminstered and/or what further cuts have been proposed, but you can bet the Police are/will be the recipients as well. As this is Belgian, I know very little of the severity of their austerity measures.

It must be difficult defending something that has/will be wielding the knife looking to trim the fat. But to come back for a second or third time, like most public jobs in Europe, well services have been/will be affected. Yet we pay the same taxes, if not more in most instances. Oh, except for the top earners such as Politicians and the like.

I think it was sporting of the Police to stand their ground and not retaliate. Maybe that was their way of demonstrating their support for the Fire Service Officers? I'd like to think that was what it was.

Cobaltic1978
reply to post by Bedlam

 

I don't think the Police in the U.K would just stand there and take it either.

I don't think firemen woud start a fire in the street in the UK either!

AndyMayhew

Cobaltic1978
reply to post by Bedlam

 

I don't think the Police in the U.K would just stand there and take it either.

I don't think firemen woud start a fire in the street in the UK either!

I would like to think they wouldn't on any main street, but on a street that is closed off as this clearly was? Besides, who better to have in control of a fire?

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


I know that Belgium is actually one of the "domino effect" countries that came up for discussion in my university several years ago as a country in trouble (list was Greece, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, and Spain). From what I understand what occurred in Belgium is similar to what occurred in Greece and as to what occurred in the US. In fact, I'd hazard that the housing crisis/scam was quite global. Just like the US, Belgium was entering into a property bubble/bank shenanigans that basically popped. In Belgium, two of its largest banks were bailed out. I believe one fell regardless and now the country is spiraling into debt. It's an interesting pattern of similarity and it doesn't seem to be working out all that well.

Just like every other country that's seemingly on a path to financial disintegration/debt crisis, they also engaged in so-called "austerity" cuts. Those cuts would undoubtedly effect public sector employees including both police and firemen. Whether those cuts would have been equal for both public sector professions, I do not know but considering that protests have a higher number of police needed than fireman (though fires do get started), I imagine that one got more of a cut than the other. Theoretically.

I'm not a fan of austerity cuts especially where they are trimming that fat. Cutting expenditures into social services has a very, very negative effect on the general public in a variety of ways. I look at it this way. If people's pocket books are very pinched, then further diminishing their ability to spend through "austerity" cuts simply increases the pinch on their pocketbooks. Decreased spending means small business closure (small businesses are actually one of the biggest employers), lay offs and more, which means...more decreases to spending and less overall revenues for the country.

Really if politicians want to cut back on the fat, there are better areas that would not impact their population's ability to spend. There always is. Why it has to be borne out on the backs of the little people, I do not know.

Bedlam
Here, the cops would have gunned down the fire department. They really hate that people like firefighters and distrust the cops.

Like Dad always said, the difference is that you don't have to take inventory of your house if the firefighters have been there. With cops, you don't know what they took.

This is why I have become ANTI -- 2d amendment


WHY HAVE GUNS .... WE HAVE DOMESTIC ENEMIES CARRYING OUT TYRANNY RIGHT NOW..

and they are easier to spot in their new REDCOATS!!

reply to post by WhiteAlice


A fantastic post, thanks for that. I did not realise Belgium was in the same group as the others.

All those countries were not prepared for the introduction of the Euro let alone the bursting of the housing bubble. I took vacations in 2 of those countries and what I noticed in 2000, just before the Euro, both currencies had weakened and we got more Pesetas and Lira to the pound than we did in 1998. A lot more.

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


You're welcome. The crisis in the US and abroad was a really very big subject of discussion amongst the majority of my School of Business Administration professors, who were an unique mix of heavy experience and education. Not a single one of them had a good outlook for any of it though they all approached it from different angles. One might as well been wearing a placard stating "the end of the world is night" on a street corner. Another, a partner for a mid-sized CPA firm, stated that some aspects of the economy and what was occurring was the stuff of her nightmares. Yet another, tax accountant who had been called before Congress to give expert opinion, spent hours urging us to protect ourselves for the future as he was deeply fearful. The doomsday prof predicted collapse within the next three years. One more year to go and I really hope that he was wrong.

Those specific countries were considered to be countries whose collapse could create a domino effect due to a collapse in public confidence. It may sound strange but markets rise and fall on public confidence. One of my profs, after a meeting with Goldman-Sachs, remarked on how important these little countries were because they could damage public confidence and cause another drop. I sincerely question that because, if the country is, in fact, little compared to the rest of the world, then it seems awfully similar to that old saying about making a mountain out of a molehill. It'd be more logical to downplay the effect, not shout it through the loudspeakers. After all, public confidence is largely based on perception, is it not? Perhaps if these outside interests would back off of these countries, then conditions within them would actually improve.

MDDoxs
I dont think my man hood would allow me to respond with force to getting covered in spray of water or foam... Other law enforcement agencies on the other hand...Would consider this assault with deadly weapon? or "its coming right at us!"..?

Then again, you have shiny examples of LEO 'manhood' like, say, Officer Bubbles:

HanzHenry

This is why I have become ANTI -- 2d amendment


WHY HAVE GUNS .... WE HAVE DOMESTIC ENEMIES CARRYING OUT TYRANNY RIGHT NOW..

That would be why.

reply to post by Bedlam


LOL didn't Officer Bubbles sue 25 youtubers?

reply to post by Lysergic


And YouTube, too, IIRC he lost them all.