Latest / The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History
The 1959 Leopoldville Riots: The Spark That Ended Belgian Rule
On January 4, 1959, a banned political rally in Leopoldville spiraled into three days of violence that left hundreds dead and irreversibly cracked Belgium's grip on the Congo. This episode unpacks the riots themselves — the crowds that gathered outside the YMCA, the clash with the Force Publique, the looting and burning that followed — and the political fallout that forced Belgium to accelerate independence. We look at how the ABAKO party, led by Joseph Kasa-Vubu, had been organizing despite the ban, and how the colonial authorities' clumsy response turned a protest into a…
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