Christmas 2007 in historic downtown Antwerp, Belgium
“The Times They (sure) Are a-Changin” in good old Antwerp. Imagine my utter astonishment when the ever smiling Barbie doll A-TV news anchor casually announced last night that due to “violence and unseasonal drunken behavior in 2007″ Antwerp city council had imposed an 8 pm curfew (I’m not kidding folks), for both the upcoming Antwerp Christmas market and open-air ice skating rink.
Although there will be not one, but two ice-skating rinks in front of city hall from Dec 10, the entire traditional food-and-booze Christmas village will be relocated to the castle set right on the nearby riverbanks, conveniently solving the “seasonal issues” such as fighting drunken Santa Claus figures who turned last year’s Christmas festivities into a police patrolled high-security event from 8pm to midnight. As an added bonus, anyone being so bold as to indulge into too much Gluhwein may find him/herself falling into the treacherous 500 m/yards wide Antwerp river, an ordeal not that many can recount.
But the 8 pm curfew for ice-skating or open-air Christmas shopping stunned us all. I mean, with all the booze conveniently resettled to a distant quay to prevent the incidental Antwerp Christmas fights (aren’t we a lovely, peaceful town?) who needs an 8pm curfew? Along with many others, I mailed a formal protest to Antwerp city council (those nice people who raped our authentic traditional Antwerp Christmas, and I’m understating the extend of the devastation caused by these nitwits), only to notice that nothing but “your message was deleted without being read” replies were mass-mailed in return.
This is insane. I mean, what do they expect to happen after 8 pm at the ‘prohibition style’, camera-controlled Antwerp Christmas village? PMS-ing shopaholics attacking each other with chocolate knives? ‘En garde, mes compatriotes’, time to reclaim our city? [Check out my Christmas 2007 pictures and posts]
This blog is not affiliated with or endorsed by the city of Antwerp, Belgium.