A Belgian judge on Wednesday opened an investigation into “arson” after four schools were set on fire overnight by opponents of a controversial sex-education curriculum in French-speaking Belgium.
The events took place in Charleroi (South). In four schools, at the nursery and primary level, records were found hostile to the school plan officially adopted by decree, city attorney Vincent Fias, who is leading the investigation, told AFP.
“No Evras”, according to images from Belgian television, refers to black inscriptions on several walls.
The acronym stands for “Education for Relationship, Emotional and Sexual Life,” a two-hour course a year for two-year-olds with the aim of answering students’ questions on these sensitive subjects.
Slingshot on social networks
But since the beginning of the school year, the plan has sparked an uproar on social networks and ultra-conservative circles, especially Islamic associations and Civitas (fundamentalist Catholics), have called for demonstrations.
Caroline Desir, the French-speaking education minister, condemned “a disinformation campaign” to “incite suspicion” and “frighten parents”.
“We’re obviously not going to promote hyper-sexualization among young people, or create a sexual orientation or gender identity. I read that we’re going to teach children to masturbate, and it’s totally unacceptable to scare people with parents in this matter,” Caroline Desir announced last week on La Premiere radio (RTBF).
His office on Wednesday declined to comment on the vandalism in Charleroi.
“A Form of Terrorism”
But Mayor Paul Magnet, head of the French-speaking Socialist Party, criticized the “barbaric acts” as “a form of terrorism” and promised that “the police will do their utmost to find the author(s) of this defamation”.
On the X Network (formerly Twitter), he mentioned four “arson attempts”, praising the quick intervention of firefighters, which managed to limit the damage.
The “Evras” course, presented by Carolyn Desir as a two-hour “animation” by approved external speakers, is aimed at students in the sixth level of primary school (ages 11-12) and fourth level of secondary school (15). -16 years).
Compulsory since 2012, not properly insured till then due to lack of resources.
The aim is to “reassure students about the questions they ask themselves during puberty” and “protect them from dangerous or problematic situations”, the minister stressed, citing “sexuality, sexual violence, gender stereotypes”.
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