Brussels, 14th of October 2025: how media framing operated at the Office des Étrangers

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This paper examines the ways in which francophone mass media framed the events that occurred at the Office des Étrangers and how this process reflects a broader rightward shift in Belgian politics.

Government reforms and the symbolic role of the OE

On 14 October 2025, Brussels has been moved by a particularly large protest organised by trade unions, gathering around 100 000 protesters marching against the reforms of the Arizona, the current coalition composing the Belgian federal government. Among these reforms, several concern migration and asylum.

As warned by different NGOs and associations, the Arizona governmental agreement, advocating for a “struggle against illegal migration”, comes with important implications for the reception and stay of asylum seekers in Belgium, dreadfully complicating immigration processes. In practice, these reforms include, among others, the doubling of places allocated in detention centres and an intensification of return policies (Grevesse, 2025). Belgium counted a bit less than 30 000 applications for asylum and protection by the end of October, for the year 2025 (Asylum Statistics October 2025, 2025) and already 1952 people had been sent in detention centres in 2023 (Grevesse, 2025).

The Office des Étrangers (OE) is the institution in charge of applying Belgian government policies regarding immigration. It includes administrative branches, detention centres as well as family shelters (IBZ, n.d.). The OE is therefore a strong symbol of Belgian migration policies. Located in Brussels, it became the scene of violent unrest by protesters and, in turn, a forceful response from the police. In the days following the clashes, the events made national headlines.

I selected francophone mass media articles from Le Soir, La Libre, La DH, RTBF info, BX1 and Le Monde, as units of analysis due to their large audience and reach (Druelles, 2025b, 2025a; La DH, n.d.; La Libre, n.d.; Le Monde, 2025; Le Soir, n.d.; Noulet, n.d.). I rely on the concept of media framing based on Scheufele’s (1999) interpretation, which focuses on mass media. Examples from local sources are also briefly discussed, in order to draw a more representative picture of the francophone Belgian media landscape. However, their role in this framing process turned out to differ from that of mass media.

Media framing as a conceptual lens

Using a social constructivist understanding of media framing (Scheufele, 1999), I argue that francophone mass media framed the events of the 14 October 2025 in a narrative that is not at odds with a far-right discourse. This convergence appears as a symptom of a broader rightward shift in Belgian society regarding migration.

Frames are to be understood as schemes that work as “sets of references”, based on which the media, as well as the larger public interpret the news. They organise the world and determine to a certain extent the social, cultural and political meanings attributed to events. This extent is limited to the individual’s framing which depends on their personal experience, interpretation and their interaction with peers (Scheufele, 1999).

Analysis of the framing process

My claim is that francophone mass media participate in the creation of certain frames. Indeed, they focused almost systematically on the violence that occurred in front of the OE, especially the one perpetrated by protesters, whereas police violence was more or less emphasised depending on the outlet. None of the articles questioned the symbolic place where the violence took place, nor did they situate the events in a broader context, either in relation to government policies or to recent events. For instance, the tragic suicide of a Palestinian man, detained in an OE facility just a few days before the protest, where psychological support has not been provided, according to his lawyer (RTBF, n.d.), was connected to the unrest.

By portraying protesters in a rather aggressive way and isolating the events from the broader context of indignation, the stories were framed through a particular angle: one that associates protesters with threat. It conveys the idea that those disagreeing with the reforms, especially the ones regarding migration and asylum policies, represent a danger for society.

Furthermore, the terminology used by francophone mass media to depict the event and the protesters was not always neutral. La Libre used a title including the term “racaille”, a pejorative and heavily loaded term in French that could be translated as “thugs” or “troublemakers” (La Libre, n.d.). Notions of “vandalism”, “malfaiteurs” (“wrongdoers”) and similar insinuations of threatening protesters also appear. Images and videos mainly highlighted the material damage caused to the building. Although it is well-known that the public is attracted to sensational content, which could explain certain editorial choices, it nonetheless contributes to shaping the meanings audiences associate with similar social and political events. It sets a reference point for audience’s future interpretations of protests and supporters of more inclusive migration policies.

Coverage of police violence, although present, received significantly less attention than that attributed to protesters, indicating a clear imbalance. Moreover, some articles distinguished between “good protesters” vs. the bad ones, claiming that those vandalising the OE were not part of the main demonstration, denying the complexity intrinsic to a protest counting ten of thousand people. Only institutional voices were consistently represented: the mayor of Brussels, the minister of the asylum and migration and the police. With the exception of the BX1 article which also included voices of trade unions and left-wing parties (although not on the specific OE violence), the media reproduced institutional discourse which does not benefit from behaviours deviating from the norm it seeks to impose. By framing the events through institutional voices, which tend to lean towards a well-anchored right on the political spectrum (Paquot, 2024), the press reproduced rather than questioned dominant narratives.

These biased choices appear even clearer when looking at local media. “Alternative media”, such as Bruxelles Dévie, published a couple of articles in which these issues are raised (Bruxelles Dévie, 2025). However, local outlets such as “Quatre” in Liège, “Boukè” in Namur, “TéléMB” in Mons or “TVLux” in the Luxembourg region did not cover the violence that occurred at all. Their few articles focused instead on interviewing protesters from their region, without mentioning the events in front of the OE (see: Feller, 2025; Ficarotta & Wagener, 2025; Mottart, 2025; TéléMB, 2025). This absence of coverage suggests that framing the OE events fell under the prerogative of mass media.

Not only does this coverage shows clear biased framing: failing to provide balanced perspectives and reproducing a hierarchy of legitimacy by according more value to the institutional discourses, but it mostly derails the public debate. Depicting these violent events draws the attention away from their roots: reforms and policies provoking social unrest. Public debate revolved around the “delinquents” breaking the windows and tagging a building and the police response, rather than the actual claims of the outraged protesters. Their political claims were overshadowed by the violent chaos of the afternoon.

Framing as a contribution to a rightward shift

This framing ultimately contributes to a far-right narrative increasingly present in public debate and opinion, as it is not perceived as inherently “evil” anymore (Debras, as cited in Paquot, 2024). Arizona’s reforms shamelessly suggest to grant larger budget to detention centres for “irregular” migrants and facilitate return policies, reflecting a rejection of any form of multiculturalism by far-right ideologies and the scapegoating of migrants (Biard & Debras, as cited in Paquot, 2024). The mass media coverage of the events at the OE on the 14 October 2025, by depicting those against such policies as aggressive and dangerous, by using negatively loaded terminology and by almost exclusively presenting the viewpoints of those benefiting from the perpetration of such narrative, sets the frames that will shape people’s interpretations of those against discriminatory policies.

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