Tiktok video
A remarkable video is circulating on TikTok in which a De Lijn driver refuses to let a woman get off the front of the bus. She then calls to the passenger: “Take off your headscarf, we are in Belgium.” The transport company will “take appropriate measures” against the driver.
The incident took place on Tuesday on line 290 or 295 in Antwerp, but which line is not yet completely clear. Singer-songwriter Morane Miangue (24) was on the bus and witnessed: “It was busy on the line between Hoboken and Antwerp South,” she says. “Passengers also got off at the front. That was no problem. But when a woman wearing a headscarf tried to get off at the front around 3 p.m., the driver refused to open the door. Because the door at the back was already open, it sounded. She then shouted: ‘Take off your headscarf, we are in Belgium’. When the woman left the stop, the driver still pretended that she was going to hit the woman,” said Miangue.
“I spoke to the female driver about it and made it clear to her that something like that is not possible, that it was racist. There was no reason at all to lash out like that and also make a ‘fuck you’ gesture,” says Miangue. She posted the images she made with her smartphone on TikTok on Wednesday.
Appropriate measures
“We have now spoken to the woman who uploaded the video,” said Marco Demerling of De Lijn. “Using the information she gave us, we will now try to trace the driver in question and start a conversation to hear her side of the story. After that conversation, we will take appropriate measures,” he said.
De Lijn will not make public what those measures may be because this falls under privacy. “I would like to emphasize once again that De Lijn attaches great importance to diversity and respect, and we expect all our employees to treat travelers and colleagues with respect at all times,” the transport company said. It is not known who the woman with the headscarf was.
