Police in Brussels report that there were numerous incidents of violence and vandalism involving youths in the area around the Anneessenplein in the city centre and around Brussels South Railway Station. The youths had heeded a call sent out on social media to protest against the death of a 17-year-old boy that was shot dead by French police in a Paris suburb. The protest in Brussels turned violent and cars were set alight and 64 people were detained.
The Brussels-Capital-Elsene Local Police Service reports that "Youths from several different municipalities played a game of cat and mouse with police”.
63 people were taken into preventative custody, of whom 47 were minors. Another minor was formally arrested on suspicion of a criminal act. Brussels police reported that this person was released after questioning.
The police add that it is difficult to say with any precision how many youths in total were involved. "A few dozen gathered around the Anneessensplein and several dozen more around the South Station”. The police and the fire service were present in numbers. There were around 13 police vans and two watercannon. Video footage shows several cars being set alite.
A police spokesperson told VRT News that "At a certain moment were saw fires in the Artesiëstraat near to the Anneessensplein and on the Grondwetplein in Sint-Gillis. The fire service soon had the fires under control.” The police added that youths also blocked the Lemonnierlaan with make-shift barricades made from items such as cardboard boxes and e-scooters that they had found lying about.
“Thanks to the help of older local residents everything was cleared up”, the police spokesperson told VRT News. The police add that it is still too early to say what, if any, additional measures will be taken to prevent a repeat of Thursday evening’s violence.
"In any case we are on our guard with regard to events in France. We will now analyse the information at hand and based on this decide whether to, for example, deploy more officers.