While Flanders and Wallonia are set to ban unstunned Islamic ritual slaughter in 2019, the practice will remain legal in the Belgian capital of Brussels.
One of Islam’s most holy days, the Eid al-Adha festival, begins this week as Muslims around the globe engage in the ritual sacrifice of various animals including cows, sheep and goats.
As of next year, Belgium is banning the practice, which involves slitting the throat of an animal and letting it bleed to death, in Flanders and Wallonia, insisting the animal must be electrically stunned beforehand. To the outrage of animal rights campaigners, the Belgian capital Brussels has refused to ban slaughter without stunning RTL reports.
Global Action in the Interest of Animals (GAIA), a Belgian-based animal rights group, has slammed Brussels for not joining the country’s other two regions on the issue.
President of GAIA Michel Vandenbosch commented on the matter saying, “Before the end of the legislature, the Brussels government must follow the example of Wallonia and Flanders, and definitely put an end to the slaughter without stunning of sheep and cattle everywhere in Brussels.
Note, this is not a ban on Halal. Just a ban on the cruel practice of un-stunned slaughter… https://t.co/FxjzyQRSD9
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 29, 2017
Brussels, which has a large Muslim population, has become known for areas in the city such as the heavily migrant populated district of Molenbeek which became infamous due to the number of radical Islamic extremists who have originated there. Last year it was revealed that 51 non-profit groups operating in Molenbeek had direct links to radical Islamic terrorism.
The district was also the place that 2015 Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam hid for months before a raid by Belgian police took him into custody.
While in Flanders three temporary slaughterhouses have been established for Eid al-Adha, the Secretary of State for Animal Welfare, Bianca Debaets claims that no requests have been made in Brussels this year.
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