Car overturned, garbage cans burned, street furniture or scooters destroyed… Violence broke out in Brussels on Sunday after Morocco’s fine victory against Belgium at the Football World Cup, a few “dozens of people” committing damage or attacking to law enforcement, police said.
The police reported a return to calm from 7 p.m. and announced that they had made eleven arrests in the capital, including one person placed in police custody.
Even before the end of the match and the second goal sealing the Moroccan victory, in the city center, “dozens of people, including some in hoods, sought confrontation with the police, which compromised public security. “, announced the police in a press release.
She reported the use of pyrotechnic equipment, the throwing of projectiles, demonstrators armed with sticks, a fire on the public highway and the destruction of a traffic light. “Around 3:22 p.m., dozens of people, some of whom were wearing hoods, sought confrontation with the police, which compromised public safety,” the spokesperson for the Belga told the Belga press agency. Brussels police zone.
An injured journalist
“A journalist was injured in the face by fireworks,” again according to the police, who then decided to intervene with a water cannon and tear gas. A hundred police officers, who suffered projectiles, were mobilized in this intervention.
The police have asked residents and supporters to avoid certain areas of the city center. Metro stations have been closed and streets blocked to limit crowds.
“I condemn in the strongest terms the incidents of this afternoon. The police have already intervened firmly. I therefore advise supporters not to come to the city center. The police are using all their means to maintain public order”, reacted the mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, on Twitter. “I have ordered the police to carry out administrative arrests of the troublemakers,” he added.
In Liège (east), around fifty people attacked a police station, breaking windows and damaging two police vehicles. The police also intervened with a water cannon. Storefronts and a bus shelter were vandalized. Incidents also broke out in Antwerp (north) where a dozen people were arrested.
The daily La Libre in Belgium recalls that similar riots broke out in 2017 when Morocco qualified for the previous World Cup. Moroccans are one of the main foreign communities in the country.
