Posted on 06/28/2006 8:02:28 AM PDT by Tancred
“Youths” Kick Man to Death on Crowded Antwerp Bus
The Belgian state is no longer able to guarantee the security of its citizens. On Saturday afternoon Guido Demoor, a 54-year old Flemish train conductor on his way to work, was kicked to death by six “youths” on a crowded bus near Antwerp’s Central Station. The incident recalls the rush-hour murder ten weeks ago of Joe Van Holsbeeck, 17 years of age, in a crowded Brussels Central Station on 12 April.
Guido Demoor, a father of two, intervened when six “youths” got on bus 23 in Antwerp and began to intimidate passengers. There were some forty people on the bus. Demoor asked the “youths” to calm down, whereupon they turned on him, savagely beating and kicking the man. At the next stop thirty passengers fled the bus. The thugs kept beating Demoor. They then pulled the emergency brake and jumped from the bus leaving their victim to die.
Three Moroccans, two of whom are minors, were arrested today. The website of the Dutch paper De Stentor reports tonight that a fourth suspect, believed to be the ringleader, fled into a shop as the police were poised to arrest him. He managed to escape from the shop when dozens of “youths” came to his rescue. Witnesses had described the culprits as immigrant youths of between 18 and 21 years of age. During the weekend the police had called for witnesses as only four people had come forward. The police offered the witnesses absolute confidentiality and promised not to reveal their identities. “Obviously people fear reprisals,” Gazet van Antwerpen wrote today.
Belgians do not have a constitutional or legal right to bear arms, not even purely defensive arms such as peppersprays. With the police and the government failing to protect law-abiding citizens the latter are, however, totally unprotected. Saturday’s murder has shocked bus drivers and train conductors, but they stress that they are not in the least surprised. Violence on public transport has become a fact of life.
“You see what happens if you intervene,” one of Guido Demoor’s colleagues at Belgian Rail is quoted in the newspaper De Morgen today. “If Guido had not opened his mouth he would still be alive. [...] He was a good man. I would not have dared to do what Guido did. I was beaten up once and since then I have become very careful.”
Another colleague told the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad: “After the Van Holsbeeck murder some whined that no-one had intervened. Guido did intervene and paid with his life.” After the assassination of Joe Van Holsbeeck Belgium’s Cardinal Danneels had said that Joe was a victim of “the indifference in Belgian society” because no-one had come to his rescue when two youths stabbed him to death for not handing over his MP3 player.
Today the Cardinal issued a statement saying: “Guido Demoor acted very bravely. The fact that he paid with his life does not mean that he acted wrongly.” In contemporary Belgium it is heroic for an unarmed adult to tell immigrant youths to calm down.
An Antwerp bus driver told De Morgen: “These youths can be very aggressive. If you say one wrong word they throw themselves on you. I do not dare to say anything. I keep my mouth shut.” Public transport passengers declared: “They call you names in a language you do not understand, shouting and abusing you. What can you do? Who can you call for help? I do not know.”
A train conductor told Het Nieuwsblad: “This incident happened on a bus, but it could also have happened on a train. To be honest, I have been working in Brussels’ Midi Station [where the international trains from Paris and London arrive] for 27 years and I am happy to be still alive. I have been eye to eye with aggressive pickpockets on many occasions. These men have no qualms about hurting people. I am not sure that I would intervene if I witness an incident. I do not want to risk my life.”
The unrest among railroad employees after the Demoor murder is huge. Some want to go on strike to pressure the government to give them protection. The Independent Union of Train Personnel (OVS), however, has asked its members not to strike. “Laying down our work would only harm the passengers and make them the victims of incidents for which they are not to blame,” OVS spokesman Hugo De Rycke said. He stressed, however, that the authorities have to do something. De Rycke explained that bus 23 on which Demoor was murdered is known to be dangerous. “Because [bus 23] is so dangerous Belgian Rail at one point provided taxis to take employees to work [in Antwerp’s Central Station]. However, the taxi service was abolished because it proved too expensive,” he said.
Problems occur not only in major Belgian cities, such as Antwerp and Brussels, but also in provincial towns, such as Sint-Niklaas. Last week bus drivers in Sint-Niklaas refused to drive out in protest against the aggressive behaviour of immigrant youths on the buses. In today’s De Morgen drivers, who have all asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, relate experiences of “buses being demolished while en route” and of “youths harassing girls, who beg the driver to protect them.” One of the drivers said: “If they refuse to buy a ticket I leave it. I do not want to be beaten up for one and a half euros.”
Another driver said: “Last week an old man was beaten up on my bus. The youths were angry because he did not put away his luggage fast enough. They hit him on the eye and threw the luggage on his lap. [...] A bus drive lasts forty minutes. Sometimes they pester and provoke you for a full forty minutes. I remain calm, but some of my colleagues are not able to do so and get into trouble. If I ever get into trouble, I will do as one colleague did recently. He left his vehicle at the bus station and got off, never to return to this job.” Guido Demoor never even got off the bus.
whose the bigger coward...the youths or the 30 passengers who just watched?
Thirty people fled and left this man to be killed? What, were they all hunched over little old ladies? This is unconscionable...the man intervened on their behalf and they just watch while he's murdered? And then run away the first chance they get? What a gaggle of cowards.
What race were they, what gender what age, as someone who has traveled on buses in Europe, most passengers are what we term immigrants, there is a good chance that those who ran were also Muslim
That's a joke, like any "state" has ever guaranteed the security of its citizens.
Our yoots tend to do their beating in private. Why? In public, they would get the stuffing beaten out of them instead.
Actually I brained mine with a golf club. You can defend your self as along as you can prove you needed to
And I have had a go at youths starting trouble.
Yes, sometimes gangs of youths do beat up individuals. But at least it isn't a crime for people to carry weapons for self-defense. And at least the youths here aren't Muslim goons who attack non-Muslims.
If you Europeans don't wake up soon and stand up to the Islamo-fascists, there won't be any Europeans left to look down on us stupid Americans.
I would bet that those who ran were also of the Muslim faith, it being a inner city bus.
I agree with your post completely. I don't want to be smug about this either. Be well.
I do not believe tony boy either, EVER!!
My other thought would the 30 child rapiist terror lovers on the bus that fled any of them have a cellphone to call police if they weren't too flamingly gay to actually help?
Take names on this thread and ping them to your thread. I think people here will be inspired by examples of courage from across the water.
No it's not. Most violent crime...especially murder by a criminal wielding a handgun takes place within a very well defined demographic. If you remove black on black crime (usually a black teenager shooting another black teen) our violent crime rate shrinks considerably. Where I live it all but disappears.
"So, 30 passengers ran away knowing full well the man was being beaten. He was the only one who stood up for them but when the tables were turned, no one stood up for him. Sad, very sad. And disgusting. They are just as guilty as the "youths". May they all carry this on their conscience forever."
I only wish I'd been there. Then again, I would probably be in jail for making Morrocan hamburger without a license. That sort of cowardice just isn't right.
I don't recall anyone saying we don't have crime or assaults. I do recall FReepers pointing out that 30 people running away from six thugs who were beating a man to death for coming to their defense are cowards.
How moronic. I'd lay down my work before I would lay down my life. That's a poor memorial to Mr. Demoor.
I don't usually support unions and their strikes, but this is a special case.
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