hundreds of people they provoked this sunday riots in the center of Brussels and in some Belgian and Dutch cities after the World Cup match between Qatar and Belgium with Moroccoand caused damage to vehicles and street furniture, forcing the police to intervene.
The Mayor of the City of Brussels, Philip Closecondemned the incidents and ordered “police to proceed with administrative arrests of rioters,” he wrote on Twitter.
Finally, the police carried out a dozen administrative arrests and one judicial one after the riots that shook the center of Brussels, according to the police, who do not rule out more arrests once they are made. checked all security cameras in the center and other neighborhoods in which there were also riots, such as Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Schaerbeek and Anderlecht.
The incidents in the Belgian capital began in the middle of the second half, when about 150 young people gathered in the center set fire to a container and launched firecrackers and fireworksafter which they began to beat the vehicles parked in the area, according to the Belgian public television RTBF.
The images broadcast by the local media showed several fans destroying a car, some carrying the Moroccan flag, the winner of the match, as well as burning scooters.
“There has been the use of pyrotechnic material, the launching of projectiles, the use of sticks, a fire on public roads (…) the destruction of a traffic light and a vehicle with its occupant has been surrounded,” the spokeswoman explained to the Belgian agency. of the central district police, Ilse Van de Keere, who added that a journalist has been injured in the incidents.
police action
These disturbances led to the intervention of a hundred policemenwho used tear gas and two water cannons.
In addition, they forced the closure of several metro stations and cut some streets to circulation, and impacted public transport.
The police had made a wide deployment in Brussels on the occasion of the match, which ended 2-0 in favor of the Moroccan team, since in 2017 there had been major riots after Morocco’s qualification for the World Cup, which resulted in 22 injuries.
There were also a dozen arrests in Antwerp on Sunday, according to police in the Belgian port city, who had to use fire trucks at various locations and disrupt traffic in the bustling Borgerhout neighborhood.
In Liège, fifty people attacked a police station and broke windows and damaged the lights of service vehicles, while other supporters damaged street furniture or vandalized some night service shops.
Incidents in several Dutch cities
There were also incidents in several Dutch cities after Morocco’s victory over Belgium in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar.
Mobile police units charged rioters in central Rotterdam, where 500 people had gathered, who threw fireworks and bottles at the officers, according to police.
Riot officers also intervened tonight in The Hague to contain the riots, while in Amsterdam about 500 people gatheredwho lit small fires and set off fireworks.
There were also some concentrations of fans in Utrecht and Amersfoort, who lit some small fires and launched fireworks in a festive atmosphere, although in the second town a motorbike was set on fire, according to the police.