Grégoire Chapuis, a symbol of liberalism

Take a good look at this statue? What's next to his right leg? An axe? And why is he looking in the direction of the Eglise des Récollets? Grégoire Chapuis is an extraordinary figure, a symbol of liberalism of which we no longer know what truth or fiction is.

At the end of the 18th century, in the wake of events in France, a revolutionary idea was born in the region of Verviers. At the Congress of nearby Polleur on September 16, 1789, a declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen was proclaimed that went beyond French ideas. The popular physician and friend of the people Chapuis criticized the prince-bishop's authority. He was an active propagandist of liberalism and was the first to dare to perform a non-religious marriage in 1793. Chapuis was a co-founder of the Société patriotique et humaine and set himself the double goal: to help the poor and to emancipate the workers through education. After the Liège Revolution, Chapuis was arrested and sentenced to death. Seated on his coffin, he was taken to La Place du Sablon (now Place du Martyr) and beheaded there at the age of 33. According to the stories, the executioner needed six strokes to separate the head and torso.

The statue was erected on 10 October 1880, for Belgium's 50th anniversary, and at a time when the battle between liberal, radical liberals and the Catholic, conservative liberals in Verviers was heating up. Chapuis was the symbol of anti-clericalism and it is no coincidence that his statue looks at the church on the square with his head held high.

The radical liberals developed the pre-socialist ideas in the young Belgium. For example, they were not at all pleased with the conservative Catholics giving the Jesuits a place in Verviers. In September 1844, they organized three days of popular demonstrations in the streets of Verviers. These riots were quite serious, as they were even reported in English and Russian newspapers.

In the spring of the international revolutionary year of 1848, a few progressive patrons, teachers, artists and intellectuals founded a democratic association, the Société des Droits et des Devoirs de l'Homme. Often, they would raise the social issues and the particularly difficult situation of the working class in the city council. Before the elections of the summer of 1848, however, the radicals were no match for the wealthy conservatives. The association would die a quiet death.

In March 1849, the Sûreté de l'Etat (State Security) estimated that "Vérviers is still the part of the kingdom where we have the most to fear from the republicans".

A member of this group, Corneil Gomzé, founded a workers' federation in 1864, but this association was also opposed by the authorities.

Jan Rymenams