A Belgian court on Wednesday convicted four people in connection with a series of violent attacks targeting Kurdish residents during March 2024 Nevruz celebrations in the Limburg region, handing down community service sentences and prison terms of up to six months, the TR724 news website reported.
Nevruz is traditionally marked by Kurds in the second half of March as the first day of spring.
According to a report by Ersan Kırlı, TR724’s Belgian-based correspondent, the Hasselt Criminal Court’s ruling addressed three separate cases stemming from a March 24, 2024, incident in Heusden-Zolder, where dozens of Kurdish residents came under attack by a large group of Turkish ultranationalists. The violence followed a Nevruz convoy traveling from Leuven and escalated into racist assaults, with attackers reportedly attempting to set fire to a house where Kurdish families had taken shelter.
A 31-year-old man from Beringen, identified only as B.K., was sentenced to 70 hours of community service and fined €400 for inciting hatred and making threats. The court noted that B.K. had not participated in the violence directly but was a member of a WhatsApp group in which messages encouraging attacks on Kurdish vehicles were shared.
Another defendant, M.O., was sentenced in absentia to six months in prison and fined €400 for throwing a stone through the window of a house where Kurdish individuals had sought refuge. He was also ordered to pay €800 in compensation to the victims. Police camera footage identified him as the person responsible for breaking the window during the mob assault.
In the same case, a 20-year-old Syrian Kurdish man, M.Y., was sentenced to 70 hours of community service for assault. His sister, M.H., was acquitted of related charges. The court did not accept the victim’s nationality as an aggravating factor that would have elevated the charge to a hate crime.
The final defendant, 28-year-old K.T. from Heusden-Zolder, received 90 hours of community service for stealing a flag and blocking a road. According to the court, he had confronted a Kurdish vehicle displaying a flag with the image of Abdullah Öcalan and attempted to seize it, prompting a physical altercation. The court ruled that community service was a suitable sentence aimed at encouraging social responsibility.
In previous rulings, one defendant had received a 10-month suspended sentence and a 60-day driving ban for related offenses, including blocking roads and carrying pepper spray. Another case is still pending expert assessment of victim injuries.
The March 2024 violence in Heusden-Zolder and Houthalen-Helchteren left at least six Kurds hospitalized, with two of them critically injured. Kurdish eyewitnesses and rights monitors described the attacks as racially motivated, carried out by individuals waving Turkish flags and giving the “wolf” hand salute, a gesture associated with ultranationalist Turkish organization the Grey Wolves, seen as the paramilitary wing of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The events drew condemnation from human rights groups and sparked Kurdish protests in Brussels, Geneva and Bern. Belgian police have since increased security for affected Kurdish communities, although many victims and observers continue to call for stronger action against hate crimes and organized ultranationalist violence in Europe.