The police does a spot check of the taxi-drivers at the airport. This is a logical thing to do, in order to pick up people at the airport you need a special license. Not many of those licenses are available. One of the unlicensed (for the airport) drivers tries to evade the check and drives off. A policeman tries to stop the taxi and gets lifted on the hood. The taxi continues on for another two kilometers at which point the policeman fires two shots, one of which grazes the driver. Pandemonium follows. In no time taxi-drivers from the Brussels area gather to the airport and block all the entryroads. And the main motorway around Brussels. For hours. Riots with the police are barely avoided, especially when word (a lie) gets around that the offending driver is dead.
No, I don't think the Brussels taxi drivers are right. On the contrary. The offending driver now faces murder charges and that is correct. And before saying stuff like he was shot like a dog, you should at least know the facts and also know that only the maddest of dogs are shot, most mad dogs are gassed.
What I did notice however was this. The television showed the rioting Brussels area taxi drivers. All of them (not a single exception) were coloured. All of them (not a single exception) were men. Many with a beard that Osama would have been proud of. Next the television showed the airport (licensed) taxi drivers. All of them (not a single exception) were white (caucasian). And several women there. All neatly shaved. The women too. The distinction between these two groups of people - doing the same job - could not have been bigger if you had planned it. And yet they do exactly the same job, not ten kilometers apart.
Strange.
