Four Belgian soldiers were charged by Norwegian authorities on Sunday with assault and battery after a serious brawl in a café on Saturday evening. Defense acknowledges the incident.
These are hallucinatory images. A group of at least twenty people fights with each other on the street. One person is knocked down and kicked while on the ground. Also against his head.
The massive brawl took place at café Nabo’n in Åndalsnes, a town about 400 kilometers north of the capital Oslo. “When we were closing and turned off the music, we saw that something was happening outside,” manager Jovie Nerland told the local newspaper Dagbladet. She contacted the police, but they were unable to prevent the situation from escalating. “We used the bar as a kind of shelter for people who had been beaten and injured,” Nerland said. At least one resident of Åndalsnes had to be taken to hospital for treatment, police said.
“Half-naked” dancing
Cafegoers told Norwegian media on Sunday that the atmosphere in the bar had been charged for hours. Both civilians and soldiers were present. Including Belgian soldiers, who were in Norway for training. According to witnesses, some of the Belgian soldiers were so winded that they were dancing “half naked” on tables.
But apparently it didn’t stop at dancing. Four Belgian soldiers were arrested on the spot and taken for questioning. On Sunday afternoon, Norwegian authorities announced that all four had been charged with assault and battery. At the same time, the police asked that any images of the fight be transferred to the police for further investigation.
Norwegian district commander Richard Moen described the incident as an “unfortunate situation”. He confirmed to a local newspaper that the four soldiers are between twenty and forty years old.
Home
Defense in our country confirms the incident. “Our military police are working with the local Norwegian police on the matter,” it said. “The investigation is ongoing, the four have been interrogated.” The defense department does not want to say whether they will be put on the first plane home after interrogation. However, the chance is particularly high, since the four have been officially charged.
If the soldiers are actually convicted in Norway, there is a good chance that they will subsequently be expelled from the army in our country for serious misconduct. Especially since the case of Jürgen Conings – the Limburg soldier with extreme right-wing sympathies who threatened virologist Marc Van Ranst, among others – military disciplinary law has been applied very strictly, according to trade union circles.
