Brussels - The brother of Belgium's king
joined a swelling debate about its past on Friday by saying that
King Leopold II, under whose rule millions of Congolese were
killed or maimed, could not have "made people suffer" because he
never visited his colony.
Statues of Leopold, who ruled over what is now the
Democratic Republic of Congo for 23 years until 1908, have been
defaced by activists since anti-racism protests against the
police killing of black American George Floyd turned global.
Prince Laurent, brother of King Philippe, told the Sudpresse
agency that abuses had occurred in the Congo Free State,
Leopold's personal fiefdom and source of wealth, but that
Leopold was not to blame.
"He never himself went to Congo," he said. "So I do not see
how he could have made people there suffer."
But Belgium has begun to debate what happened.
Adam Hochschild, author of the best-selling "King Leopold's
Ghost", concluded that about half the population of the Congo
Free State perished under the king. Villages that missed rubber
collection quotas were made to provide severed hands instead.
Joachim Coens, chairman of the Flemish Christian Democrats,
told the broadcaster VRT it was time for Belgium, and preferably
the king himself, to address the issue.
"There must be an acknowledgement that this was a problem in
certain aspects," he said on Thursday evening.
The national newspaper Le Soir led its Friday edition with
the headline "Leopold II, the king unnerving the palace".
The royal household said it never commented on statements by
political leaders.
A chronology of Leopold II on its website does contain a
reference to "abuses", adding: "Following the excesses committed
by the Europeans in Africa, Leopold's reputation and his
overseas venture were questioned."
A bust of Leopold in Brussels became the latest to be
damaged, removed from its plinth by activists overnight.
"This is not how we proceed in a democracy. This is not how
we put history back on the right track," Auderghem Mayor Didier
Gosuin told RTBF.