What should festivalgoers in Belgium do after a violent incident?

If danger is continuing or the person responsible is still nearby, call 101 for urgent police assistance. Call 112 when urgent medical help is needed. Inside a festival, tell the nearest steward, security worker or first-aid post as well. Give a precise location—The Barn, a named entrance, bar or sanitary block is more useful than simply saying “on the festival site”—and note the approximate time.

Ask witnesses for their names and contact details, but do not pressure them to confront anyone. Belgium’s victim-support portal advises witnesses to preserve photographs or video and to tell police what they observed. Rock Werchter’s published conditions state that police and security may make recordings for safety and crime-prevention purposes, so an exact time and location can help investigators determine whether relevant footage exists. Visitors should not assume that footage will be retained indefinitely.

A human bite that breaks the skin needs prompt medical attention. Gezondheid en Wetenschap, whose public guidance is produced with input from Belgian medical experts, warns that every bite wound can become infected. Its first-aid advice is to get out of danger, control serious bleeding with sustained pressure, rinse the wound with water and seek specialised help quickly. A clinician should assess wound damage, infection risk and tetanus status. Outside normal GP hours, Belgium’s Federal Public Service Health directs patients in participating areas to the out-of-hours doctor service on 1733; life-threatening injuries remain a matter for 112.

Keep the hospital report, medical certificates, prescriptions, pharmacy receipts, transport costs and photographs showing how the injury develops. If the injury affects work, ask the treating doctor for an incapacity certificate and notify the employer and health-insurance fund, or mutualité/mutualiteit, through the usual channels. Travellers should also contact their travel insurer. These records can matter for insurance and any later claim for compensation.

For a serious assault, make a statement at a police station rather than relying on a social-media appeal. The Federal Public Service Justice

Bring identification, tickets or wristband information, medical documents, photographs, messages and a short chronology. Note distinguishing features without guessing at nationality, intoxication or motive. Ask that the names of witnesses and any security interaction be recorded in the procès-verbal/proces-verbaal, commonly shortened to PV. The police provide an attestation that a complaint was lodged, and victims can generally request a free copy of their interview statement.

Police-on-web, the federal digital counter accessed through police.be and authenticated with eID or itsme, accepts some non-urgent reports. Local police guidance is not entirely uniform about which violent incidents can be completed online, however. Where there is a significant injury, a possible suspect or evidence that may need to be secured, an in-person appointment is the safer route. Emailing a general police contact form is not the same as making a formal complaint.

Belgium’s language system should not deter visitors from reporting. Werchter is in Dutch-speaking Flanders, while Laurent lives in French-speaking Liège. FPS Justice states that when a person being interviewed does not speak the language of the proceedings, police must use a sworn interpreter unless an officer can record the statement in that person’s language or asks the person to write it in that language. An English-speaking visitor should say clearly that an interpreter is needed and should not sign a statement that they do not understand.

Rock Werchter is a temporary city as much as a concert series. The local police zone’s safety planning describes festival crowds of roughly 70,000 to 80,000 people per day and says the event has a substantial effect on public order. The festival says it coordinates safety measures with local and federal police and public authorities. That infrastructure is designed for emergencies, but investigations can become harder once crowds disperse and temporary staff leave.

The interests here are not truly opposed: Laurent and his friend want identification and accountability, while police and festival organisers need reliable evidence and procedural fairness. Other attendees also have an interest in avoiding public misidentification. The soundest response combines all three—rapid reporting, preservation of evidence and restraint about naming people online.

What happens next depends on whether police can locate witnesses, security staff or usable images and identify the unknown man. It is not publicly known whether prosecutors have opened a formal investigation, whether relevant recordings were preserved or whether investigators have confirmed Laurent’s account. Anyone with first-hand information should contact the police and reference the date, venue and approximate time, rather than attempting their own identification campaign.