Jeroen Overmeer, until recently Bart De Wever’s spokesperson, ended this analysis with a sigh. N-VA, De Wever’s party, has a tendency to feel unjustly attacked.

Sometimes, though, it does provide the right ammunition. One of De Wever’s first acts as mayor of Antwerp will undoubtedly result in more criticism, of the latter sort. The new city council decided to drop the city’s slogan ’t Stad is van iedereen, which had been introduced by former mayor Patrick Janssens.

’t Stad is van iedereen – “the city belongs to everyone” – is a well-known phrase in Antwerp, much like the phrase “It’s a free country” is in America. Janssens used the enormously popular saying to tell off intolerant people, making it an official city slogan with an inclusive ring.

Last summer, after rioting broke out in Borgerhout, one of Antwerp’s districts with a large immigrant population, De Wever had already stated that to him, the city did not belong to everyone. Troublemakers should not be included, he believed. Eventually, the phrase became part of the local elections campaign, resulting in discussions that to outsiders sounded rather absurd: Did the city belong to everyone, or not?

De Wever, having won the elections convincingly, now has the final say.

Another decision last weekend will only add to De Wever’s critics’ gloom about this: the mayor, fearing a repeat of last summer’s riots, imposed a ban on assembly in Borgerhout. The district’s mayor immediately stated that the measure was unnecessary and exaggerated.

This type of discussions is what we can expect for months and maybe years to come. De Wever believes he represents the “common” people who are tired of crime, social security fraud and high taxes.

His opponents believe him to be intolerant and secretly xenophobic. Which side you are on depends on who you are. Somehow, the figure of De Wever is polarising, whether he means to be or not.