By Roel Stynen
Yesterday, May 26th, Vredesactie and Agir pour la Paix activists occupied the offices of the four government coalition parties to resist the planned acquisition of new fighter jets.
At 1 pm, about 80 activists entered the four parties’ headquarters, based in Brussels, and distributed posters, balloons, ribbons, pamphlets. Police had to be called in to remove the activists from the
buildings. The last occupations ended at 5 p.m.
The ministry of Defense is currently working on a strategic plan for the future of the Belgian [militarism]. There is a consensus among the government coalition parties that the Belgium air force needs to replace the aging F-16 fighter jets, that in the last years served in wars in Afghanistan,
Libya, Iraq.
Replacing the F-16 is estimated to cost about 6 billion euros, and billions more for training, use and maintenance in the following decades.
– news report on public tv
http://deredactie.be/cm/
– short video impression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
– pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/
– press release (dutch):
http://vredesactie.be/nl/
– press release (french):
http://agirpourlapaix.be/f16-
