Violence reigned in the New Year in Brussels as miscreants attacked police and firefighters and set dozens of fires in the de-facto capital of the European Union.
Brussels Police said that they made at least 159 arrests during New Year’s Eve and had to intervene in over 1,700 incidents with members of the public, Le Soir reports.
Meanwhile, firefighters in the EU capital responded to at least 30 cars being set on fire, with some areas seeing several cars being set ablaze simultaneously. Three electric bikes were also set on fire during the evening.
At least 54 other fires engulfed various pieces of street furniture, trash cans, and trees, Brussels firefighters said.
Police, emergency workers, and firefighters all reported coming under attack with either fireworks or Molotov cocktails.
Several buses and trams in the city also came under attack with fireworks, resulting in a tram passenger being hospitalised.
Belgian sovereigntist political party Vlaams Belang published footage they said had been recorded overnight. Breitbart News was unable to immediately verify the origin of the footage, but it appeared to portray police coming under attack with fireworks.
Chaotic scenes also broke out in Antwerp, Belgium’s second-largest city after Brussels, with riots breaking out shortly after midnight. After coming under attack by fireworks, police were able to disperse rioters at around 2 am local time, according to De Standaard.
Antwerp Police spokeswoman Kim Bastiaens said that 49 people were arrested, including 28 minors, four of whom have been arraigned for acts of public destruction.
Elsewhere, five people died in firework-related incidents in Germany, including a 24-year-old man in North Rhine-Westphalia, two men aged 45 and 50 in separate instances in Saxony, a 20-year old man in Hamburg, and a 21-year-old man in Brandenburg.
A fourteen-year-old boy also reportedly lost his life after a firework exploded too early in The Netherlands as well.
