Ixelles and Uccle call to rename street honouring controversial historical figure

In the continuing aim to question the past, and the reputation of once honoured figures in Belgium, notably for their role in the Congo, the communes of Uccle and Ixelles have joined forces to request that Rue Edmond Picard - which straddles both municipalities - should be renamed Rue Andrée Geulen.Not all residents agree however, drawing up a petition protesting the proposal first debated in June 2022 by the communes’ mayors and aldermen. A decision will be made after the 13 October municipal elections. Picard - who was born in 1836 in Brussels and died in 1924 in Dave, near Namur - was a lawyer, renowned jurist, writer, teacher and art cri…