Media on both sides of the planet have been intrigued by such actions in the midst of a pandemic.
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Rarely is Belgium at the center of international attention. But in this case, the mayor of Blankenberge would have gone well. Following the fight between young people who do not respect barrier gestures and the police on the beach, the coastal town has made headlines well beyond the Belgian borders, and not only from neighboring countries.
From Europe to Asia via America
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Obviously, in view of the geographical proximity, it was first of all the French and Dutch media which relayed the information. In addition to Quiévrain, the AFP dispatch was taken up in several media, including the most widely read newspaper, “Le Figaro”, and “Franceinfo” on the public television side. But if the attention paid to this event is so strong, it is probably also because this incident has a concrete consequence for holidaymakers in the North of France: day tourists have since been banned from coming to several stations on the Belgian coast. This measure is also scrutinized very closely on the Dutch side, since it has been the subject of articles in the most important newspapers in the Netherlands such as “De Telegraaf” and “Algemeen Dagblad”.
In the Anglo-Saxon media, the focus was more on the fight itself, given the gap with health security measures. In view of the global influence of these newspapers, the news logically went around the world: “The Sun” and “The Mail” in the United Kingdom where we talk about ” dramatic scenes “,” TMZ “in the United States which has shown itself to be challenged by” umbrellas that become weapons “In the middle of a” insane hubbub “, The site of” News Corp “in Australia,” The Strait Times “in Singapore, the site in English of the Chinese television CGTN …
Finally, among other countries, we find for example Spain with an appearance in the newspaper “La Vanguardia”, one of the most important of the Iberian Peninsula, Luxembourg in the “Tageblatt” and the “Luxemburger Wort”, or again Greece in the “Naftemporiki”. Italy would almost be an exception. There, another event totally eclipsed the Blankenberge brawl: the 64th anniversary of the Bois du Cazier disaster, for which President Sergio Mattarella paid tribute to the victims, overwhelmingly Italian.
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