around ten arrests after violence on the sidelines of an anti-racist demonstration in Liège

About ten people were arrested among the “200 to 300 breakers” who confronted the police in the center of Liège on Saturday March 13, the local police announced on Sunday. A minor is among those arrested, the others are between 20 and 30 years old. These violent incidents erupted on the sidelines of a “Black Lives Matter” demonstration, organized five days after the controversial arrest of a woman of Congolese origin in this city.

Some 36 police officers were injured in the clashes on Saturday. Nine had to be taken to hospital for treatment, detailed the Liège police chief during a press briefing. Only one policeman was still in the hospital on Sunday, without his condition causing concern. The local police chief pointed out the character “organized” of the authors of this “surge of violence”, who came from Liège and its periphery, but also from Brussels.

The woman, whose arrest on Monday for “rebellion” was done in a muscular way according to images circulating on social networks, filed a complaint. She accuses the police of violence and racism, which the police deny. The procedure is in the hands of the prosecution.