Up to 30 youths have been arrested by authorities in Brussels after fresh unrest broke out in the centre of the city this afternoon. Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon has been forced to come out again and condemn violence, just four days after a sizeable disturbance broke out following Morocco's world cup win over the Ivory Coast, seeing the North African nation qualify for the World Cup finals in Russia. Today's disturbances are thought to have been related to the appearance of a well known French social media star, a rapper known as Vargasss92.
Fights broke out as some of the youths threw missiles at police trying to contain the unrest.
Second riot in four days
In the latest violent scenes to rock the Belgian capital, local police called on the support of federal authorities to quell the disturbances which saw youth rampage through the streets with rocks and knives. According to The Daily Express, local radio station RTL reported the disturbances involving up to 300 youths began around the area of Place de la Monnaie where Vargasss92 appeared for a music video. It is not known if there have been any serious injuries but some people have posted pictures in social media showing cars being vandalised and shops being looted. It is thought there are still isolated pockets of trouble in the capital at this hour.
This is the second major disturbance in the centre of Brussels in just under four days when at the weekend up to 300 football fans went on the rampage following Morocco's 2-0 World Cup win against the Ivory Coast. In the weekend disturbances, more than 20 police officers were injured in the unrest which also saw shops being looted and even cars set on fire.
The disturbances in that incident took just over an hour to bring under control.
Questions will be raised over law and order
Belgium, and Brussels, in particular, has been on a high state of alert since the terrorist attacks of March 22, 2016, in which 32 people were killed in a coordinated attacks across the city. Two major incidents of civil disturbance in less than four days will undoubtedly cause some concern to the residents of this major European capital.
According to the Daily Express, some of the witnesses to today's incident thought that a "terror attack" had taken place. Jan Jambon said the violence "follows a pattern" and that it needed to be "countered with tough measures." After the shop owners have cleared the damage following another incident of civil unrest, the question of Law And Order will inevitably be raised at some point in the future.
