King Leopold II’s name scrubbed from Belgium’s largest tunnel after thousands vote for rebrand

A protester holds a portrait of Belgian King Leopold II during a protest organised by Black Lives Matter Belgium last summer

Credit: YVES HERMAN /REUTERS

The name of the Belgian king responsible for the murders of millions of people in the former Belgian Congo has been removed from the longest road tunnel in Brussels.

The Leopold II tunnel is being rebranded as the Annie Cordy tunnel – a Belgian singer who died aged 92 last year – following a public vote.

“This is a first, symbolic step towards a better balance in the naming of public spaces” said the Brussels Minister of Mobility Elke Van den Brandt.

But while the mile and a half tunnel is having its name changed, the arterial road under which it passes will continue to be called Boulevard Leopold II.

Brussels city authorities say it would cause significant disruption to force everyone living on the read to re-register their addresses.

The Leopold II tunnel in Brussels is the country's largest and a major traffic artery through the city

Credit: THIERRY ROGE /Belga

For activists within the Congolese community in Belgium, there have many missed opportunities during this renaming.

Mireille Tsheusi-Robert is a fierce advocate of erasing any traces of King Leopold II from Belgian streets. She says she is happy that it is a woman’s name but that it is a “disgrace” that the woman is white.

“It should have been one of the many brilliant Congolese women who fought the oppression of the evil colonialist ruler” Ms Tsheusi-Robert told the Telegraph.

Annie Cordy was one of 15 names for whom more than 30,000 people were able to vote on during the renaming process – she won a fifth of the ballots.

Her songs however include “Hot Cocao” which she often performed wearing mock African dress.

Last June, a group of BLM protesters climbed onto the imposing statue of King Leopold II waving the flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo, reigniting the public debate about decolonialisation.

Since then the number of monuments to the man branded the “butcher of the Congo” have been taken down – in Ghent and in Antwerp – but many others remain.

The topic of removing names and statues in Belgium is as complex as it is sensitive.

The far-right Vlaams Belang party for instance believes history should be retained, but as Flemish nationalists, they oppose the Monarch and believe no King should be celebrated.