The incident occurred on the 15th of May during a protest outside of the third annual Muslim Expo located in Antwerp, Belgium.
It seems like we can't have an event for us without there being a group of people outside saying they don't like us. The Muslim Expo was an event held to commemorate and inform Muslims on our Islamic Culture by bringing a number Muslim organisations together and celebrating our achievements.
These days, every European country has their own variation of a far-right, anti-Islam, political party, Belgium's offering is Vlaams Belang(Dutch for Flemish Interest). Outside of the event stood 40 members of Vlaams Belang, armed with picket signs reading the same drivel most of these parties come up with “no headscarves,” “no mosques” and “Stop Islam”, very original.
Quand Zakia Belkhiri, 22 ans, rejoint les rangs d'une manifestation islamophobe en Belgique. La sista m'a tueR. pic.twitter.com/f062WYEGHQ
— Sihame Assbague (@s_assbague) May 17, 2016
When a young Muslim woman named Zakia Belkhiri, 22, saw the protesters outside of the event she didn't do the usual of ignoring them and walking past but she had her own plan to toy with the protestors. She walked up to them with a smile and began to troll the protestors by taking selfies with them, the protestors who were mostly over the age of 40, seemed a little bewildered at the incident.
The protestors dispersed after their 2-hour long protest when locals pelted them with rotten eggs.
Will selfies be the answer to tackling Islamophobia? Hopefully, if not then eggs work the same. Below are some scenes from the protest.