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   XPost: soc.culture.belgium, talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: fenster@_nynex.net   
      
   BRUSSELS — A car slammed at high speed into Carnival revelers in a small   
   town in southern Belgium early Sunday, killing six people and leaving 10   
   more with life-threatening injuries, authorities said, adding many others   
   were lightly injured.   
      
   "What should have been a great party turned into a tragedy," said Belgian   
   Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden.   
      
   The prosecutor's office, which gave the death toll, also said two local   
   people in their thirties were arrested at the scene in Strépy-   
   Bracquegnies, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Brussels. Prosecutors   
   said, in the early stages of their investigation, there were no elements   
   to suspect a terror motive.   
      
   In an age-old tradition, Carnival revelers had gathered at dawn, intending   
   to pick up others at their homes along the way, to finally hold their   
   famous festivity again after it was banned for the past two years to   
   counter the spread of COVID-19. Some dressed in colorful garb with bells   
   attached, walking behind the beat of drums. It was supposed to be a day of   
   deliverance.   
      
   Instead, said mayor Jacques Gobert, "what happened turned it into a   
   national catastrophe."   
      
   More than 150 people of all ages had gathered around 5 a.m. and were   
   standing in a thick crowd along a long, straight road. Suddenly, "a car   
   drove from the back at high speed. And we have a few dozen injured and   
   unfortunately several people who are killed," Gobert said.   
      
   The driver and a second person were arrested when their car came to a halt   
   a few hundred meters (yards) further on.   
      
   Since Belgium was hit with twin terror attacks in Brussels and Zaventem   
   that killed 32 civilians six years ago, thoughts of a terror motive are   
   never far away.   
      
   But prosecutor Damien Verheyen said "there is no element in the   
   investigation at this time that allows me to consider that the motivations   
   of the two could have been terror related."   
      
   The prosecutor's office also denied media reports that the crash may have   
   been caused by a car that was being chased by police.   
      
   King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo were expected to visit   
   Strépy-Bracquegnies later Sunday to express support for the families of   
   the dead and those injured.   
      
   Carnival is extremely popular in the area. Carnival festivities in nearby   
   Binche have even been declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.   
      
   https://www.npr.org/2022/03/20/1087774062/carnival-belgium-car-crash-6-   
   dead   
      
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