Belgian Minister of Justice Vincent van Quickenborne has apologized for the urination incident on his birthday. Today the Minister of Justice was deeply concerned during an emergency debate in Parliament.
“I would like to expressly apologize to the police. I understand that officers see this as a personal attack,” said Van Quickenborne, who receives threats from the drug environment and is therefore protected. The justice minister was under fire because three guests urinated on a police van during his birthday party. “I understand that this makes their blood boil.”
Van Quickenborne still maintains that he knew nothing about urinating on the car until he saw reports about it in the media. “People also say that I was laughing when I was looking at my mobile phone,” he told Belgian broadcaster VRT. “I think those interpretations are very far-reaching and do not correspond to the truth.”
Pipigate
The minister celebrated his 50th birthday at home on August 14. According to VRT, camera footage shows that not only his guests urinated on the police car at various times, but it also shows how the minister himself comes out around 4 a.m. and opens the door of the car. The minister would have known about the urination and the images seem to indicate that he found it all quite funny, the VRT concludes.
The urination incident caused great outrage throughout Belgium and became known as ‘pipigate’. The case is all the more annoying for Van Quickenborne because he, together with another minister, is politically responsible for the police. Moreover, he is protected and secured by them. That’s why the police vehicle was in front of his house during the birthday party. The relationship between him and the police unions has been bad for some time.
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