Memoires

We are in the north-east of Belgium, in the Land of Herve, in that part of Wallonia that borders both the Netherlands and Germany. More specifically in 's-Gravenvoeren, one of the six villages that belong to the Flemish Region by law, but have remained French-speaking by will. On Sunday 20 May 1979, a demonstration of Flemish nationalists was announced in the afternoon. The gendarmes on horseback remind that the region has been in a state of siege for almost twenty years. Housebreaking, militant behaviour by the gendarmerie, arbitrary arrests of French speakers ... all incidents that prompted one of the village spokespersons to go to the King of the Belgians.