Editing Marc Dutroux (section)

== Public outcry ==
In October 1996, more than 300,000 Belgians marched through the streets of Brussels after judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] was removed from the case. He was removed for attending a fundraising dinner for the families of the victims, which the court system claimed damaged his impartiality.<ref name="guardian" /> They demanded an investigation and reform of the police and justice system. The protest was called the "[[White March]]".<ref name="telegraphcover" /><ref name="guardian" /><ref name="nyt">{{cite web |agency=Reuters |title=275,000 in Belgium Protest Handling of Child Sex Scandal |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/21/world/275000-in-belgium-protest-handling-of-child-sex-scandal.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170412040515/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/21/world/275000-in-belgium-protest-handling-of-child-sex-scandal.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 April 2017 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref> Protesters were wearing signs that said "Stop the cover-up".<ref name="nyt" />

To protest the prospect of a conditional release of Dutroux, a "Black March" was organised on the 23rd anniversary of the "[[White March]]". The calls to take part in the march were made after it was made public that a court had approved the request for conditional release of Michel Lelièvre, who was an accomplice of Dutroux and had received a 25-year sentence.<ref name="brusselstimes">{{cite web |last1=Galindo |first1=Gabriela |title='Black march' to denounce conditional release of serial child killer Dutroux's accomplice |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/justice-belgium/71010/black-march-to-denounce-release-of-serial-child-killer-dutrouxs-accomplice/ |website=bruseelstimes.com |date=October 2019 |publisher=The Brussels Times |access-date=3 November 2019 |archive-date=3 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003211400/https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/justice-belgium/71010/black-march-to-denounce-release-of-serial-child-killer-dutrouxs-accomplice/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

''[[The Guardian]]'' reported in 2004 that "the entire credibility of the current reformist government of [[Guy Verhofstadt]] and Belgium's very reputation as a normal civilised country is on the line."<ref name="guardianhaunted">{{cite web |last1=Osborn |first1=Andrew |title=Belgium still haunted by paedophile scandal |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jan/25/worlddispatch.dutroux |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170217104101/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jan/25/worlddispatch.dutroux |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 February 2017 |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref>

The crimes of Marc Dutroux were covered in multiple nonfiction documentaries, one of the earliest being a [[Great Britain|British]] [[Public-access television|public-access]] TV documentary titled ''Witness: The Lost Children'' ([[Channel 4]], 1999, directed by Helen Hill), which was narrated by Stephen Rashbrook and featured interviews with multiple family members of the victims, as well as with Claude Thirault, a next-door neighbour of Dutroux's who had later become a police informant after raising personal suspicions about Dutroux's activities, which had included watching small children from the street, and also being caught digging up under water tanks in an old basement, creating a space where Thirault claimed that Dutroux had planned to use for hiding children in.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Helen |title=Witness: The Lost Children |publisher=Channel 4 |date=1999}}</ref> An episode of ''[[Crimes That Shook the World]]'' titled "Monster of Belgium" (Season 2, Episode 9, April 2009) was aired later on by [[Discovery Channel]], bringing [[North America]]n attention to the Belgium case.<ref>{{cite web |title=Crimes That Shook the World Season 2 Episodes |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/crimes-that-shook-the-world/episodes-season-2/1030369078/ |website=www.tvguide.com |publisher=TV Guide |access-date=1 November 2021 |archive-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101142723/https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/crimes-that-shook-the-world/episodes-season-2/1030369078/ |url-status=live }}</ref>