Dozens arrested at Belgium protest against Libyan slave market
Teens break off from main demonstration and attack police, damage shops in Brussels after CNN report; no injuries reported
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Fifty people were arrested Saturday in Brussels after police officers were attacked and shops damaged on the margins of a protest over the recent revelations of migrant slave markets in Libya, authorities said.
A group of people broke off from the demonstration against slavery in Libya before putting on masks and turning violent.
The incidents occurred in the busy commercial neighborhood around Place Louise near the Belgian capital’s city center, police spokesman Ilse Van de Keere told AFP.
Again migrant riots in Brussels this afternoon. For the third time in two weeks! Story here:https://t.co/GdbpAPdc5o pic.twitter.com/UKcfsFB7K1
— Voice of Europe ???? (@V_of_Europe) November 25, 2017
Brussels police posted on Twitter: “50 people (were) arrested and (there are) no injuries to be noted.”
According to the RTBF public broadcaster, those arrested during the violence were aged between 15 and 18.
Unrest and riot police in action in the lower part of Chaussée d’Ixelles around an hour ago. #bruxelles #brussels pic.twitter.com/aUzXAuDBYP
— Ragnar Weilandt (@ragnarweilandt) November 25, 2017
A police car was also targeted and projectiles were thrown, Van de Keere said. A large number of officers were deployed and calm was restored by the early evening.
The US network CNN triggered a wave of condemnation when it aired footage last week of an apparent auction where black men were presented to North African buyers as potential farmhands and sold.
This is the third time that violence has erupted in Brussels in a few weeks.
On November 15, an unauthorized rally organized by a young social media star escalated when the police tried to disperse the crowd.
Four days earlier, there was violence after Morocco’s qualification for the 2018 football World Cup.
The Times of Israel Community.