Belgium: police blamed for drowned kid

23 year old Mohamed Bouazza, a Moroccan from Antwerp, had been missing since May 1st. Yesterday his body, probably, was finally found in the Scheldt River. It is unknown how he drowned. On the night he disappeared he supposedly received racist threats during some quarrel and was then chased by his assailant in the area of the Antwerp wharf, at which point he jumped onto a boat.

The family is accusing the police of "killing him quietly" by doing nothing. The mother says she feels discriminated and says more would have been done if he had been a "Joe and not a Mohamed." "If it would have continued much longer, there would have been riots."

The Moroccan community organized a memorial. 1500 people, mostly Muslims, then marched through the streets. The police were not out in force, after a police station's windows were broken. The march was peaceful, and Bouazza's brother is quoted as saying during prayers "we want quiet till Mohamed has been buried". He will be buried in Morocco Tuesday.

Source: Nieuwsblad 1, 2 (Dutch)

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