BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Police and protesters clashed within the streets of Brussels on Sunday in demonstrations over government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, with police firing water cannon and tear fuel at demonstrators throwing rocks and smoke bombs, witnesses mentioned.
About 35,000 individuals took half in demonstrations, police mentioned, which started peacefully earlier than violence broke out.
Protesters sporting black hoods threw stones at police as they superior with water cannon on the primary junction in entrance of the European Union Fee headquarters, Reuters journalists mentioned.
Dealing with as much as the police traces, the protesters held fingers and chanted “freedom”. One protester was carrying a placard studying “when tyranny turns into legislation, rebel turns into obligation”.
Protesters additionally threw smoke bombs and fireworks, the newspaper Le Soir reported. The scenario calmed down later, police mentioned.
Belgium tightened its coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, mandating wider use of masks and imposing do business from home, as circumstances rose within the nation’s fourth COVID-19 wave.
There have been 1,581,500 infections and 26,568 coronavirus-related deaths reported within the nation of 11.7 million individuals for the reason that pandemic started. Infections are rising once more, with 13,826 new circumstances reported on common every day.
Violence has additionally damaged out in anti-restriction protests in Belgium’s neighbour the Netherlands in latest days. On Friday, police in Rotterdam opened hearth on a crowd.
(Reporting by Christian Levaux, Johnny Cotton and Sabine Siebold, Modifying By Angus MacSwan)
