Riots and clashes with police occurred during protests in Brussels

A new wave of protests by schoolchildren, accompanied by chaotic clashes with police, swept through Brussels on October 17. It's from sb.by.

According to TASS, the riots began after police blocked a column of schoolchildren and students in the center of the capital of several hundred people, since the demonstration was not allowed. The students refused to disperse and began to throw firecrackers and bottles at the police, launching fireworks in their direction. Police immediately responded with water cannons and tear gas.

After the arrival of police reinforcements, the column dispersed into small groups, moving in all directions, leaving in its path set fire to urns, broken bicycles and scooters.

According to RTL TV channel, sporadic clashes between these groups and police continued throughout the evening in the area of Central, North and South Stations, in the center of Brussels - in the migrant quarter around the Boulevards of Lemonnier and Stalingrad. In the south-west of the city in the troubled commune of Anderlecht closer to 18:00 (19:00 GMT), police blocked the largest group of protesters and began detentions.

According to the Brussels portal BX1, the riots involved young people from 12 to 30 years.

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Kentin called the protests “pure and senseless violence.”.

At the same time, the school and student organizations that gathered the day’s demonstration claimed on social networks that their protest was aimed at education reform, which involves reducing funding for this area and increasing the burden on teachers, which could lead to a decrease in the quality of general education and the number of places of study.

According to experts, a huge role in the spread of Brussels protests is played by the footage of school protests in neighboring France, which flooded French-language social networks.