Unseen: vandals toy street football field with 1,680 liters of waste and even hang a cow’s leg in Doel (Hoboken)

The scene on Wednesday morning on the football field near the Major Maelfaitplein in Hoboken, was fairly unseen. It looks like a particularly heavy case of vandalism. « A havoc was found on the square, » says Wouter Bruyns, spokesperson for the Antwerp police zone. « The site was littered with waste, even carcasses, and graffiti was sprayed on the field. »

It seems that the perpetrators have cut out residual waste bags on the football site. A cow’s leg hung in one of the goals, allegedly several animal remains were hung. Various groceries were also applied with graffiti. The slogan ‘Shooting corridor’ was not welcome in various places. The mats of the terrain were damaged.

It was an employee of the city cleaning who discovered the havoc. « He notified the police and immediately started working with his colleagues, » says spokeswoman Lauranne van Dongen of the cabinet of ships of Stadstreiniging Ken Casier (N-VA). « Six people have been working for an hour and a half to clean up no less than 1,680 liters of waste. Our employees earn a lot of praise for this fast and alert intervention. » The slaughter waste was picked up by a specialized company and the graffiti was also removed later in the day.

The city of Antwerp registered as an injured party to possibly be able to recover the costs of the cleaning at the perpetrator (s) at a later stage. The bill runs in the thousands of euros. The police arrived for the findings. « Of course we investigate who is responsible for vandalism, » says Bruyns.