Riot police clash with far-right hooligans as Brussels attacks vigil turns ugly
Police used water cannon to control hundreds of rowdy protesters in central Brussels on Sunday after they ignored an official call for solidarity marches following Tuesday’s bomb attacks to be postponed.
Local media said about 450 protesters noisily faced off with white-helmeted riot police in front of the city’s colonnaded stock exchange building where wreaths and flowers had been laid out in a tribute to the victims of the attacks.
The crowd, many of whom media described as right-wing nationalists, shouted slogans vehemently denouncing Islamic State which claimed responsibility for the attacks in which 31 people were killed and scores injured.
One banner defiantly read: “United against Islamic State”.
“This is our home” and “The state, Daesh accomplice,” the hooligans shouted in unison, using an alternate term for the Islamic State group that claimed Tuesday’s suicide bombings in Brussels that killed 31 people.
Scores of people were gathered around the mass of flowers, candles and messages that have been left in front of the ornate former Brussels stock exchange which has been draped in flags and messages of support and sympathy.
“We are football hooligans, we don’t have anything to do with politics,” said Andres, one of the demonstrators. “We are here for the victims and to pay our respects.”
Ranks of riot police, carrying shields, hemmed in the crowd and then gradually pushed the protesters back into a street where water cannon trucks opened up.
Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned the demonstrations. “It is highly inappropriate that protesters have disrupted the peaceful reflection at the Bourse (stock exchange). I strongly condemn these disturbances,” he said according to Belga news agency.
The mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur, described the crowd as scoundrels and said they had come into Brussels from other towns, in particular Antwerp. He accused police of doing “nothing” to stop the hooligans coming to the city despite having advance warning and that he was “appalled” that “such thugs have come to provoke residents at the site of their memorial”.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
