Brussels street-sweepers complain about police horse waste

The street-sweepers of Brussels-City have written to the federal interior minister Joëlle Milquet to complain about having to clean up after police horses. Mounted police are based in Etterbeek, and officers on horseback carry out regular patrols on the streets of Brussels to improve the police presence on the streets.

However wherever horses go, the finest of organic rose fertiliser is sure to be found, and street-sweepers have complained that shovelling horse manure is not in their job description. “That's not our job,” said a spokesman for Karine Lalieux, alderwoman for cleansing. “According to the police regulations of the city, it is forbidden for anyone to allow an animal over whom he has control to foul the public space. It would seem to be to be coherent and just that the federal police clear up the mess of their own horses.”

The police, for their part, argue that clearing up after the horses is “operationally impossible”. According to Milquet's office, there exists an agreement whereby a mounted officer is to call Bruxelles-Propreté when he finds his mount has fouled the street. Lalieux has no knowledge of any such agreement, her spokesman said.

image credit: Den Flater/Flickr Commons