Izegem (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – On February 6, 2025, a man was caught vandalising Izegem city hall with graffiti, including swastikas. Alderman Bruno Lambert said the man’s messages didn’t make sense. The police caught him, and the city cleaned up the mess quickly.
On the night of February 6, 2025, at about 7 p.m., a bystander passing along saw a man spraying graffiti on the city hall in Izegem, Belgium. The message included phrases that read “stop torturing me,” “killed my family,” and even other texts with hard-to-interpret words. He also painted a swastika symbol.
The man wrote,
“Don’t act like you don’t know Bert.”
When the passerby asked him about “Bert,” the man said he was not talking about Bert Maertens, the former mayor of the city. He claimed that his name was Bert, but this was later found to be false.
Why was Izegem City Hall vandalised with swastikas?
Police quickly caught the man near the Melkmarkt area. Anton Jacobus, the General Director of the municipality, and some aldermen came to the scene to see what was happening. Bruno Lambert, who is the Alderman for Communications from the STIP+ party, talked about the incident.
He said,
“It is indeed someone who was confused. There was absolutely no coherence in the messages he wrote.”
After the graffiti was found, city services were called right away. They worked hard all evening and night to clean it off the city hall. Officials mentioned that the event has made people worry about the mental health of some individuals in the community.
“We quickly called the city services, who worked all evening and well into the night to remove the graffiti.”
Says Alderman for Communications Bruno Lambert (STIP+).
According to the authorities, the swastika is a very troubling symbol. It is linked to Nazism and hate against Jewish people. Similar graffiti has been found in other places. For example, in January 2025, swastikas appeared in Lethbridge, Canada. This made the local Jewish community very worried. To fight against hate symbols, some art projects have started.
In Berlin, the #PaintBack campaign invites artists to turn swastikas into colourful murals. These murals share messages of love and acceptance. Right now, local officials in Izegem are investigating the recent incident. It is still not clear why the man did this. It is unknown if this act is just a one-time thing or part of a larger problem.
