Brussels authorities on Friday banned a commemoration for victims of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinians in Lebanon, saying it would be "indecent" after this week's terrorist attacks in the United States.
Permission sought by the European Arab League (EAL) to hold the public commemoration on Sunday was turned down because "we felt that, under the circumstances, it would be inappropriate, even indecent," said a spokeswoman for Mayor Freddy Thielemans.
The EAL protested the decision, saying in a communique that "the situation in Belgium does not allow us to quietly demonstrate and honor our own victims.
"Since September 11 [the day of the US terrorist attacks in New York and Washington] Arabs and Muslims are looked upon with suspicion," it said.
A police spokesman said if the ban were violated, demonstrators could be subject to preventive detention for "disturbing the peace."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is the object of a civil complaint filed in Belgium by victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacres accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The investigation into the merits of the case has been placed in abeyance on legal technicalities raised by Sharon's lawyer.
The case was brought under a unique 1993 Belgian law which stipulates that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide can be tried in Belgian courts, regardless of where they took place or the nationality or residence of either the victims or the accused.
Between September 16 and 18, 1982 Lebanese Christian militias massacred about 2,000 Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, south of Beirut – BRUSSELS (AFP)
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