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From the Liveblog of Sunday, March 27, 2016

Riot cops clash with anti-IS protesters in Belgium

27 March 2016, 5:06 pm

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A Brussels square that has been a memorial site turned agitated on Sunday when black-clad men started shouting slogans and carrying a banner with an expletive against the Islamic State group.

Hundreds of people were remembering the 28 victims of Tuesday’s attacks when dozens of men, some in balaclavas and anonymous masks, barged to the center of Place de la Bourse and mounted the steps of the stock exchange building.

Riot squads joined plainclothes policemen to move the protesters away from the square. A water cannon sprayed the protesters.

The anti-IS rally came despite government appeals not to hold a march against fear Sunday in Brussels since the security forces were stretched too thinly to provide security.

People gather at a memorial site at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels, Sunday, March 27, 2016. In a sign of the tensions in the Belgian capital and the way security services are stretched across the country, Belgium's interior minister appealed to residents not to march Sunday in Brussels in solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) — People gather at a memorial site at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels, Sunday, March 27, 2016. In a sign of the tensions in the Belgian capital and the way security services are stretched across the country, Belgium’s interior minister appealed to residents not to march Sunday in Brussels in solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

— AP

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