Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network — Brussels expresses our outrage at the latest police killing in Belgium, the killing of Imad, 42, a father of two in Seneffe. This follows the still unexplained death of Sourour in the cells of the Brussels police in January and comes only days after the shooting of an as-yet unidentified Black man in a psychiatric hospital by the Belgian police.
As Palestinians and supporters of Palestine, we express our solidarity with all communities struggling against police violence, brutality and killing. Just as imperialism, including Belgian imperialism, has long been a partner of Zionism in Palestine, we view state racism and police repression here as also a function of the imperial state and its militarization against our communities. We demand justice, accountability and an end to racist and colonial police terror.
Here in Belgium, our communities — fleeing Zionist colonialism, forced from our homes and lands by invasion and imperialist attack — continue to face state repression, criminalization and police violence. Black, Arab and Muslim communities in Belgium are particularly subjected to a high level of police violence and state racism. This is inseparable from Belgian imperialism and colonialism, historically and in the present day.
Today, we honour Imad, Sourour and all victims of police violence as martyrs in the struggle for justice. We are dedicated to struggling together here for justice, accountability and liberation for all of our communities, oppressed peoples and the working class as a whole. The struggle to confront police violence, state racism, criminalization and repression is part and parcel of our struggle for the liberation of Palestine.
