Word: leopoldist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Violence came last week to the usually stolid city of Brussels (pop. 960,000). Tens of thousands of demonstrators fought with police, some 80 were hurt, 1,000 arrested. It was the worst civil disorder since the Leopoldist riots of 1950, which preceded the abdication of King Leopold. At that time Belgium's powerful Roman Catholics were in power, and the Socialists did the rioting. This time the tables were turned, and the Catholics were the attackers...
Belgium's royal question became last week a question of the royal word. Exiled King Leopold had agreed, if he were allowed to return to Brussels, to transfer the throne temporarily to his son Prince Baudouin. This was acceptable to anti-Leopoldist Socialists and Liberals, if Leopold would guarantee not to interfere with Baudouin's regency. Some suggested that the monarch might stay in the Belgian countryside and devote himself to golf; others proposed the Congo. Then from Switzerland Leopold himself cut in huffily: "It is not necessary that I be asked for guarantees, which can add nothing...
That did it. The Socialists scorned the royal word. The Liberals split bitterly over the issue, while the pro-Leopoldist Christian Socialists (Catholics) sneered at them as "suburban Machiavellians." The Liberals angrily retorted that the Catholics' Premier-designate Paul van Zeeland was the real Machiavellian-he had meddled with Liberal solidarity. "We are ready to eat the pie," said Liberal Leader Roger Motz, "if it is prepared by a different pastry cook...
...crowd noticed a repairman on top of a tram whose guide rope had been torn down by demonstrators. "Come down off that tram and we'll take care of you, you lousy scab!" yelled a red-scarved striker. Another scrambled to the tram top. While thousands watched, the Leopoldist and anti-Leopoldist squared off, pummeled each other, the proletarian champions of the factions splitting Belgium...
...Foreign Ministry went to the Christian Socialists' staunchest Leopoldist, ex-Premier Paul van Zeeland. Almost continuously for the past 13 years the Foreign Affairs portfolio had been held by the Socialists' able Paul Henri-Spaak, who last week became president of the Council of Europe's Consultative Assembly. Commented a Belgian newspaper: "Lost for Belgium but won for Europe...