Some "
200 thugs
" clashed with the
police
and committed damage this Saturday in the center of Liège in Belgium, on the sidelines of a "
Black lives matter
"
demonstration
, and several police officers were injured, said local police.
Calm had returned in the early evening in the city center, noted an AFPTV journalist.
To read also: Could we forbid thugs to demonstrate?
The demonstration was organized following the controversial arrest Monday in this city of a woman of Congolese origin.
The latter, arrested for "
rebellion
", accuses the police of violence and racism, which the police refute.
According to a spokesperson for the Liège police joined in the afternoon, the incidents began when "
young people joined the group of peaceful demonstrators and then left the demonstration to go and wreck the city center
".
They "
paved the central police station and police vehicles
," she told AFP.
A hooded man in the center of Liège this Saturday.
JOHN THYS / AFP
A police motorcyclist was "
assaulted
" and "
knocked down
" before being taken to hospital, the spokeswoman said, adding that other police officers were injured.
No report was available at the beginning of the evening on the wounded on both sides or on the arrests.
A cordon of police in front of the demonstrators.
JOHN THYS / AFP
“
We are dealing with two hundred young people, thugs, who move very quickly, in groups, and who loot the stores.
They ransacked a whole McDonald's,
”the spokesperson said.
Federal police reinforcements had been sent, as well as water cannons.
Nearly 200 thugs were on site.
JOHN THYS / AFP
The police had asked the population not to come to the city center and the “
bourgmestre
” (mayor) had sent a message to traders “
to close the stores in the hyper center
”, according to the spokesperson.