Brussels: Attack Pride celebrations in Chaos-Pro Palestinians!

Brussels: Attack Pride celebrations in Chaos-Pro Palestinians!

Bourse-Platz, 1000 Brüssel, Belgien - On May 21, 2025, this year's Brussels Pride took place on Bourse-Platz in Brussels. The event, which traditionally works for the rights of the LGBTQ+community, was overshadowed by a violent incident this year. Pro-Palestinian activists attacked the Pride participants, which led to an early demolition of the celebrations. According to Our Central Europe the square quickly turned into a battlefield when about 50 demonstrators mixed and thrown stones and glass bottles onto the stage.

The mood escalated when a stone hit the DJ on the head and the music interrupted abruptly. Frederick da Soghe, a representative of the rainbow village, noticed that the safety of which was certainly at risk. The police stated that up to a hundred demonstrators tried to get on the stage, which panicked among those present. About half of the demonstrators then fled the crime scene, while the police arrested six people because of the public order disorder.

pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brussels

Before that a massive pro-Palestinian demonstration took place in Brussels, in which, according to the police, around 20,000 people took part, while organizers reported of up to 80,000 people, such as VRT . This demonstration, which was reminiscent of the Nakba Day, which reminds of around 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 on May 15, demanded measures against the genocide in the Palestinian population from the Belgian government and the European Union.

The participants carried signs with inscriptions such as "Hunger is not a weapon for defense" and the protests were supported by around 60 organizations and associations. The Nakba Day, which means "catastrophe", is considered a decisive moment in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which coincides with the establishment of the state of Israel and the first war in the Middle East.

solidarity and controversy

The incidents on the Brussels Pride raise far-reaching questions about the solidarity between left-wing movements and the LGBTQ+community. The discourse on pro-Palestinian solidarity has increased in recent years, in particular by the development of alliances that occur under the motto "Queers for Palestine", such as Jacobin reported. In several western major cities, including Berlin, large demonstrations took place during the Pride movement that showed solidarity with Palestinians.

JUDITH Butler addressed the question of who can be mourned in their writings and creates historical parallels to the AIDS epidemic and the slow response of the US government. In the current social debate, Palestinians are often not considered "Worthy Victims", which also polarizes the discussion about the relationship between LGBTQ+rights and the Palestinian struggle for justice.

While in Israel there are officially better legal conditions for queer people than in many neighboring countries, social acceptance remains low. Demonstrations against Israeli violence could lead to broader solidarity that includes all oppressed. It remains to be seen how these complex dynamics will influence future interactions between the different movements.