Belgian police announced on Monday January 24 that they had carried out 239 arrests after the demonstration against anti-Covid health restrictions which degenerated into violence on Sunday in Brussels, where 11 people, including three French people, were taken into police custody.
Read alsoBrussels: tensions on the sidelines of the demonstration against health restrictions
According to the report communicated Monday by the police of the Belgian capital, there were a total of 228 administrative arrests for "
disturbing public order
".
These people were all released after having to give their identity.
But 11 other suspects were taken into custody for "
possession of a weapon, rebellion against the police and / or degradation
", said the police in a press release.
Among them: "
six Belgians, three French, a Dutchman and an Afghan
", the same source pointed out.
Violence “totally unacceptable”
On the initiative in particular of the organization “
Europeans United for freedom
”, created by a Belgian, a parade gathered some 50,000 people on Sunday in Brussels, according to the authorities. This is the biggest mobilization in the street of opponents of the restrictions ever recorded in Belgium for two years. Hundreds of demonstrators came from neighboring countries (the Netherlands, Germany, France...). While the demonstration had taken place peacefully for three hours, the situation degenerated once the procession arrived at the foot of the EU institutions. According to the police, "
400 to 500
" people then "
deliberately sought confrontation
" with the police,in particular by throwing various projectiles and setting fire to street furniture.
The water cannons and tear gas used to disperse them did not prevent small groups from continuing the clashes.
Riot police, bombarded by metal barriers and burning garbage cans, had to flee into a subway entrance to take refuge in the basement.
This violence is "
totally unacceptable
", some images are "
hallucinating
", denounced Monday the Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden on Flemish public radio.
She clarified that the Belgian troublemakers came from the far right, but also from the far left.
Read alsoCovid-19: “No to unjust closure”, the cultural world in the street in Belgium
Among the 239 arrested in total, the police counted 14 French, nine Dutch, three Germans and two Poles.
Dating from before the wave of the Omicron variant, which led the Belgian authorities to extend the restrictions, the largest demonstration of opponents so far in Brussels had gathered 35,000 people on November 21, according to the police.
