| A Nation Divided | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tape Master: | 1486 | |
| Catalog #: | 503848 | |
| Clip Number: | 503848-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | HFR-SFL-35-046 | |
| Timecode: | 01:54:20 - 01:57:26 | |
| Location: | Brussels, Belgium | |
| Year Shot: | 1951 (Actual Year) | |
| Audio: | Yes | |
| Color: | No | |
| Headings: | CROWDS: Demonstrators DEMONSTRATIONS: Protest GOVERNMENT: Monarchy LOCATIONS/EUROPE: Belgium, Brussels ROYALTY: Belgian, Albert II ROYALTY: Belgian, Baudouin I ROYALTY: Belgian, Leopold III WAR & CONFLICT: Revolution | |
| Description: | Master 1486 - Tape 1 Newsreel regarding the Belgian political crisis surrounding the return and eventual abdication of King Leopold III, July 1951. TLS/MS King of Belgium LEOPOLD III (King Leopold III) wearing military uniform, exiting Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium, accompanied by sons Prince of Belgium BAUDOUIN (later King Baudouin) & Prince of Liege ALBERT (later King Albert II), both of whom wear light-colored suits. VO: "This was Leopold, King of the Belgians, as he weighed the decision which brings exile again. On the 5th day of his return to a riot-torn homeland, he went to face his people. With him is his son, Crown Prince Baudouin, who will take the throne." Rear view LS Royalist crowd in park, palace in BG; TLS Royalist crowd waving flags, hats, smiling. VO: "At the palace gates, the king is cheered by crowd. Half the nation supported his return after 6 years of exile." TLS Belgian gendarmes (police officers) & horses gathering on street, preparing for political demonstration. TLS crowd on sidewalk, men climbing fence. TLS white men standing behind fence, mocking the royals by offering fascist Nazi salute. TLS/MSs Belgian police riding horses, marching along street, keeping protesting rabble in line. VO: "But this demonstration was followed by a clash w/ anti-Leopold forces. In the mixed crowd, some give the Nazi salute, mocking Leo's surrender to Hitler in 1940. Right-wing liberals & Belgium's moderate socialists led resistance to the King's return, demanded abdication." TLSs royalist crowd standing, waving. Panning MS black car passing by, passengers holding flowers & waving. TLSs police patrolling gates, steering royalists & press photographers away. Panning TLS/MSs buses passing, passengers leaning & waving from broken windows; panning TLS men leaning through top hatch, waving flower bouquets. VO: "These are royalists, bringing flowers for the King. Shattered car windows tell of traffic obstacles on the way." LS crowd near royal palace, Brussels, Belgium. TLS gendarmes (police) standing guard at royal gates, line of flower-wielding royalists standing in line. Panning MS injured police officer holding white handkerchief to bloody eye. MS injured woman laying on grass. MSs wounded woman on stretcher being loaded into ambulance, concerned women standing close, doors closed. Panning MS ambulance passing, speeding from scene. VO: "Police hold back the opposing faction. But peacemakers like this gendarme were attacked by both sides. Several women were among the 30 injured in this riot." TLSs police gendarmes-- note the gas mask canisters slung over shoulders-- establishing small steel barricades topped w/ barbed wire on street. Panning MS former Prime Minister of Belgium PAUL-HENRI SPAAK (Paul Henri Spaak) walking along street, waving to crowd. MSs anti-royalist men standing behind imposing police barricade, talking civilly w/ police officer across divide outside La Royale Belge. Rear view TLS police carrying carbine rifles, steering crowd of demonstrators from street (still quite civil). VO: "And here in the center of Brussels, the police set up barricades; troops were called from occupation duty in Germany to meet the crisis. Paul-Henri Spaak, former premier, led the anti-royalists. He warned that the country was on the threshold of revolution unless Leopold left. At the barricades, police and demonstrations exchange pleasantries." Traveling shot political demonstrators gathered in streets, Brussels, Belgium. MSs angry white men yelling at police officers, royalists on street. TLS/LSs men running along street, rushing to stop electric trolley street car during general strike, crowd walking & congesting cobblestone streets. TLS/MSs crowd attacking delivery truck, rocking the lorry, gendarmes pushing crowd back with rifle butts (still quite civil). MS police driving Ford delivery truck, passing man standing on street corner & mocking them with fascist Nazi salute. TLS/MSs crowd surrounding Javel la Croix street car trolley, older white man alighting. Traveling shot mob scene, crowded street, smoke rising from stopped trolley in BG. Tilting MS smoke, trolley car. More shots mob, smoking street car. VO: "Meanwhile, the anti-Leopoldists enforce a general strike, stopping business & cutting transportation. Here they attack a delivery truck. Rifle butts: they speak a language all their own. A strike-breaking trolley car is mobbed; all aboard are pro-Leopoldists. At week's end, socialist spokesmen threaten to storm the castle with an army of 50,000, and Belgium's king bowed before the threats of civil war." | |
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