BRUSSELS – A car hit the crowd participating in a popular carnival-related demonstration this morning at 5 am in Strépy-Bracquegnies, in La Louviere village in Wallonia, in Belgium. According to reports from the Belgian press, quoting the mayor of La Louvière Jacques Gobert, after having hit the crowd, the car fled, but was subsequently intercepted.
The victims are 6, according to reports from the Belgian broadcaster Rtbf citing the emergency unit set up by the Municipality of La Louviere. On the other hand, there are 12 seriously injured and about twenty minor ones. Nothing has yet been leaked about the reasons for the driver’s steering.
The Municipality has triggered its own emergency plan. “We have made the municipal sports hall available to families and the victim assistance service has also been activated”, explained Gobert. The city of La Louvière had officially started the carnival period at the beginning of March after the lightening of the rules related to the pandemic, with the passage in yellow code. The Strépy-Bracquegnies carnival was to begin on March 20 with the traditional Gilles gathering, in which participants go from house to house, and continue on March 21 and 22.