THE THING ABOUT IT IS.
BEWeather Report · July 20 to 26, 2026

A Belgian party leader explained a run of violence with one word: allochtonen.

SeverityHatefulTreats a group as lesser, dangerous, or not fully human, whether it says so about the group or about one person for belonging to it. Everything at this level.
Who said itTom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang chairman, Belgian MP)
Who it targetsPeople of non-native origin in Belgium
TrackProtected groupsProtected-group hate and political-opponent extremism are counted apart, and neither total is presented as a score against the other. Everything on this track.
What was said

Van Grieken, chairman of Vlaams Belang and a sitting Belgian MP, posted in Dutch about violence at the Ghent Festival: “And they are getting more and more violent... Why is this not a constant headline in the media? Why do we hear nothing from the other parties? I will tell you. Because they are allochtonen,” a Dutch term for people of non-native origin. It reached about 130,000 views.

Why it counts

The origin of the people involved is given as the sole reason for a pattern of violence. What they did, where it happened and who they are individually play no part in it.

The second half turns press silence and other parties' silence into deliberate concealment. Disagreement is ruled out as an explanation. A party chairman with a seat in parliament is telling his followers that everyone else is hiding this from them.

The receipts

Every quote, checked against its source.

Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang chairman, Belgian MP)

"En ze worden steeds gewelddadiger... Waarom is dit geén constant hoofdpunt bij de media? Waarom horen we niets van de andere partijen? Ik zal het u zeggen. Omdat het allochtonen zijn. [And they are getting more and more violent... Why is this not a constant headline in the media? Why do we hear nothing from the other parties? I will tell you why. Because they are allochthonous.]"

2026-07-20 · source

One item from a weekly pass over the news and the reaction to it. Ninety-five items crossed the line this week. Thirty-five are here: every one from a carrier we can identify, with a reach figure we can report. The other sixty are not, and the reasons are worth stating. Thirty-five sat below the tiers this page carries. Twenty-five came from anonymous imageboard accounts with no measurable reach and nobody to hold to account, and most of those were logged upstream as new slur coinages for the research codebook, which is instrument-building rather than a finding about the week. All ninety-five are in the full report.

Go deeper

The Weather Report, July 20 to 26, 2026

All ninety-five confirmed items with full severity scoring, the trigger board, and the forward watchlist. This page is the plain-language cut; that one is the whole thing, including the hate methodology that defines every score here.