Citizens’ group to take over Rue de la Loi with apero-cum-protest

Citizens’ movement Bruxsel'air has announced it will organise a massive afterwork event on a section of Rue de la Loi, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, on 22 August. Bruxsel'air is a citizens' movement that was set up in 2016 to combat air pollution in Brussels.

The Bruxsel'air activists say they want to raise a toast to the new Brussels government and, crucially, remind local lawmakers that improving the capital’s air quality should be one of their chief policy priorities.

“We’re inviting our new ministers to join our toast,” the group says on a Facebook page created to promote the event. “We’re expecting a lot of people to show up and reclaim the public space that belongs to us with this unprecedented apero.”

Bruxsel'air wants the incoming government to create more and improved bike lanes, more green areas and more space for pedestrians. “It’s high time that [pedestrians] get the space they deserve,” the Facebook event announcement states.

The afterwork event will take place on the section of Rue de la Loi that leaves from the Schuman square, currently closed off to traffic due to construction works.

Photo courtesy Bruxsel'air

Written by Linda A. Thompson