Belgium: The Filth Of Parliament Mocked On Instagram

The hashtag #saccageParis seems to have been followed. While the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has been crumbling for several weeks under the inglorious photos of the capital, published on social networks, a user has fun doing the same with the Belgian Federal Parliament in Brussels, reports the daily Belgian The standard. Under the pseudonym “de_Kamer_la_chambre”, this anonymous publishes inglorious images of the state of the building.

Dead mice, clogged toilets, hanging electrical wires, uneasy parking lot ceiling, damp stains, computers from another era, large holes in ceilings and walls … This mysterious stranger shares the evidence of decay every day. of the building, accompanied by sarcastic comments in French or Dutch. With some success, since his Instagram account has almost twice as many subscribers as that of the Belgian Parliament …

A Flemish nationalist campaign?

The question everyone is now asking: who is the individual behind this campaign? A member of the maintenance staff? Or a politician? Journalists from Standard conducted the investigation. And it turns out that many of the mysterious “whistleblower” subscribers are close to the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang and the conservative right-wing party Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA). Certain comments come to flesh out the hypothesis of a Flemish independence campaign. “The Parliament buildings symbolize the state of the country. It can no longer be repaired, ”laments a user. An image of a dead mouse is also described as the “symbol of this country” by another.

The initiative is in any case welcomed by Barbara Pas, the boss of Vlaams Belang. According to her, the Instagram page of the mysterious Internet user broadcasts a “fantastic message” and recalls the “need for an investment policy”. His colleague from the N-VA, Peter De Roover, also applauds a “fun and painful” campaign. As for the President of the Chamber, Eliane Tillieux, she sweeps away the controversy by ensuring that “the maintenance teams are engaged every day” and by calling “the anonymous person to identify and cooperate on solutions”.

You may also like