Belgium forced to reckon with Léopold's legacy and its colonial past

African-Belgians are angered by what they see as country's refusal to engage with the issue

In just a few weeks, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has forced Europe's former colonial powers to reckon with the past, and few more so than Belgium. It has had some of the biggest anti-racism protests activists can remember: 10,000 people, many wearing masks, gathered in central Brussels on Sunday while smaller, physically distanced protests took place in other cities.

The target was King Leopold II, whose brutal rule of Congo from 1885 to 1908 caused an estimated 10 million Congolese deaths through murder, starvation and disease. Brussels city authorities are facing a petition to remove all statutes of the king by 30 June, the 60th anniversary of Congo's independence. By Friday, more than 75,000 people had signed it.