Giant pillow fight mocks Belgian regional rivalry

Reuters

SMACKDOWN: Belgian Dutch and French speaking students wield pillows during a giant pillow fight in Brussels designed to Belgian ridicule tensions.

Relevant offers

Hundreds of French- and Dutch-speaking students exchanged blows in a giant pillow fight in Brussels on Wednesday, ridiculing regional and linguistic rivalries that have stalled the formation of a new government.

"We are just people regardless of what politicians or the media on both sides of the region say," said Frank Vanaerschot, an organiser disguised as a giant yellow lion, the symbol of the northern, Dutch-speaking Flanders region.

Belgium is without a government 129 days after Flemish Christian Democrat leader Yves Leterme won a June parliamentary election with a mandate from Dutch-speaking voters to devolve more powers to regions.

The impasse prompted media to speculate that the 177-year-old nation might break apart.

- Reuters