EGN NEWS DESK
“It was actually loopy,” Brussels Fire Department Spokesperson Walter Derieuw informed POLITICO. “We had been there to assist, and we had been getting Molotov cocktails thrown at us.”
At the stroke of midnight, fireworks crackled within the night time sky regardless of a ban on pyrotechnics within the metropolis. Flares and firecrackers continued to be let off within the metropolis middle within the early hours of Wednesday morning, and a motorcyclist lobbed a firework at passersby in Ixelles on no less than one event.
The dysfunction broke out regardless of a raft of measures by the authorities aimed toward cracking down on New Year’s Eve crime. These included a controversial curfew on folks youthful than 16 in Anderlecht, the first-ever unification of Brussels’ six police zones underneath a central command, and deployment of a whole lot of additional officers.
Meanwhile, Belgium’s second-largest metropolis Antwerp additionally noticed riots and fires, with the police recording 49 arrests.
Unrest on New Year’s Eve is an annual incidence in Belgium, with greater than 200 folks arrested within the capital in 2023 and 160 in 2022.
“Unfortunately, it’s turning into a typical factor,” Derieuw stated.
The Brussels police division didn’t instantly reply to POLITICO’s request for remark.
