Eighteen people were arrested Thursday evening during incidents in Brussels after Morocco’s victory against Canada at the World Cup, a police spokeswoman said.
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Brussels, home to a large Moroccan community, to celebrate the country’s qualification for the knockout stages of the World Cup. In the same group, Belgium was eliminated.
On Sunday, Morocco’s victory against Belgium was followed by violence in the city center of Brussels, where small groups of young people had clashed with the police and damaged urban equipment, on the sidelines of spontaneous gatherings of supporters of the Morocco.
35 people arrested and three police officers injured in Antwerp
On Thursday evening, supporters also gathered to celebrate the qualification, waving Moroccan flags and setting off fireworks. Some of them formed human chains to avoid overflows, noted an AFP journalist.
The police said they intervened in a district in the north of Brussels where “a group of about 50 people disturbed passers-by».
Read alsoWorld Cup: a jubilant Morocco to celebrate a “historic” qualification
«A total of 18 administrative arrests were made for disturbing public order“, indicated the spokesperson, specifying that traffic in the city center had been restored around 9:00 p.m., and that “preventive patrolsremained in place.
According to the Belga agency, violence took place in Antwerp in several districts, where 35 people were arrested and three police officers were injured.
