It should have been the flagship event of the 2023 back-to-school season; it had finally been cancelled just a few days before. Background: In July 2023, the city of Mons and the organiser of the City Parade, Claude Van Cools, announced that the Cité du Doudou would once again welcome electronic music fans during an opening party, a colourful parade, a closing party and an indoor after party. A contract had even been signed for three consecutive years. A big first!
On August 27, a week before the big day, the city announced its cancellation, citing “problems with external providers.” According to our sources at the time, various essential authorisations were missing or had been refused, particularly on the SNCB side. The city and the non-profit organisation MCE had mentioned a “postponement” but it is clear that almost a year later, no new date has been announced.
There are two reasons for this.”I still have a three-year agreement with the city of Mons, but when the negotiations were launched, I clearly said that it was only agreed if the work on the station was completed.”explains Claude Van Cools. At the time, the organizer believed in it and was optimistic. However, to this day, the work is still not finished.
“It’s surreal”
“I had the choice between Namur and Mons. Namur was a test and it was only for one year. Mons, I knew and it was for three years.” A choice that plunged the organizer into difficulties.”What is happening to me is totally surreal. I don’t know who is behind all this but you have to be high up to block someone on social media. I guess some people wanted to stop me from posting, from talking.”he says.
“I’m not accusing anyone, but the timing of this blockage is rather suspicious: only 48 hours after the postponement announcement! To understand the problem, you have to distinguish between personal accounts and fan pages. On an account, you can’t have more than 5,000 friends. I have three, bringing together 15,000 friends. One of my pages, “Claude El divino (Claude CityParade I) is still online but I no longer have access because my email address and password have been hacked, despite a double authentication factor.”
The organizer still has access to his account “Claude El Divino (Claude CityParade II) but he does not give him access to his fan pages as an administrator. Finally, the third account, “Claude El Divino (Claude CityParade III)”, is suspended for non-compliance with Facebook’s standard rules. It is with this account that the organizer publishes on his fan pages. There is therefore, for the moment, no more access. The City Parade fan page and the Claude El Divino aka City Parade fan page are, for their part, no longer online.
“Without social media, it is impossible to communicate and organize an event”
“Since the end of August 2023, I have been desperately trying to regain access to my Facebook pages. I am finally in contact with Facebook and I have to prove that it is indeed Claude who manages the City Parade pages and that these are indeed my accounts. I have lost more than 100,000 followers, a community that took me years to build. Without social networks in our time unfortunately it is no longer possible to communicate directly with participants/fans. And therefore to organize an event”
It is therefore impossible to imagine relaunching the City Parade. “The conditions for this to be possible are that I recover my access to Facebook and that the station is inaugurated. The cancellation of 2023, at the last minute, cost me the trust of participants with their floats, of sponsors, of media. It will not be easy to find again, and will even be impossible to rebuild without an inauguration!”
In short, to date, the electro event is therefore not planned in Mons. Claude Van Cools does not despair but this mishap leaves him with a bitter taste. “The city of Mons has nothing to reproach itself for, its various services have worked with passion and professionalism. But ensuring that the City Parade can one day be organized again is, ultimately, not my responsibility.”
It should be remembered that Mons had already hosted 18 floats in 2007, bringing together more than 100,000 people. The last edition was in 2017, at the foot of the Atomium.
