"These people should receive help but they can't be helped/won't accept help", Gatz said. He calls the posts - which are mostly made under a false name - "disgusting" and adds they show "a sickening kind of racism".

The racist posts were numerous: "If that's a Fleming, then I'm a negro" or "Flemings can nowadays be anything", or "probably bought the quad with drugs money". Others were making jokes on the boy's death. Some said "another brown one less" or "a pity there weren't two on the quad, hahaha". Posting racist messages is against the law in Belgium and may lead to legal proceedings.

However, there were also many reactions of support to the family and friends of the boy, with people expressing their condolences.