brussels Crisis

Tensions Erupt in Brussels, and Police in 4 Countries Make Arrests

Protesters chanting far-right slogans disrupted a peaceful remembrance for terrorism victims on Sunday in central Brussels. A police spokesman said the protesters were soccer hooligans.

BRUSSELS — The police in at least four countries arrested new suspects during the weekend in the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks, as memorials in central Brussels to the victims of Tuesday’s bombings were briefly overrun by hooligans.

Angry protesters gathered near the Brussels stock exchange on Sunday. Chanting “Belgie barst” — or “Break up Belgium,” a Flemish slogan used by one of Belgium’s nationalist far-right parties — they brandished flares and threw water bottles at peaceful demonstrators who were holding banners proclaiming unity.

This is very dangerous,” said Anne Kluyskens, 61, who lives on the outskirts of Brussels and had come to the center of the Belgian capital to show solidarity with the attack victims and other Belgian citizens. “The extreme right are as dangerous as the jihadists. They have a message of hate.”

“Perhaps their actions are not yet as violent, but it is the same message,” she added.

The police used water cannons to drive back the far-right protesters, and the square was reopened after the brief clash. The episode, however, was a reminder of the tension in the city after the terrorist attacks that killed 31 victims, and of the anger fueling far-right parties here and around Europe who want to sharply limit immigration.

Two additional victims of the attacks were identified as American citizens, a State Department official said Sunday night, though he not identify them. Two Americans had previously been identified as having been killed.

According to a Brussels police spokesman, Christian de Coninck, quoted by the Belga news agency, about 340 hooligans supporting various Belgian soccer clubs had come to Brussels from Vilvoorde, a Flemish town a 20-minute drive from the capital. Mr. de Coninck told the news agency that the men had made “fascist salutes.”

The diverse, peaceful crowd attending the informal gathering for the victims on Easter, in the square in front of the historic Brussels stock exchange, was far larger than those that had gathered earlier in the week, because many people had come to the capital for a planned March Against Fear, which was canceled a day before. Among those lighting candles and taking photos were blond, blue-eyed Belgians; Muslim women, their heads covered with the hijab; and dark-haired men from Belgium’s large Moroccan community.

Some held up flags of various countries, and one group had a banner that said, “Pas au Nom d’Islam,” meaning that the terrorist attacks had not been done in the name of Islam. Many lit candles in memory of those who had died, and some in attendance said they had friends who had been injured at the Maelbeek station on Tuesday.

Belgium cannot handle a political crisis, and needs resolute action from the government, opposition MP Hans Bonte (SP) said on Sunday.

Mr Bonte, also mayor of Vilvorde, said he would not be asking Ministers to quit following Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels.

Mr Bonte also suggested designating a Commissioner for Brussels in the government, to ‘bring order’ to the capital. This was while appearing on the VRT-television program De Zevende Dag. ‘This commissioner would closely follow anyone who has been radicalised’, the Socialist MP said. He called for ‘political serenity’. ‘Let’s give the country what he needs: efficiently follow our own rules’, Mr Bonte said.

Christian Democrat and Flemish New Alliance MPs, two major federal parties, called for changes in the legal system, in particular conditional release for some convicted defendants.

‘Maybe the Sentence Application Tribunal didn’t have all the information it should have had in the case of Ibrahim El Bakraoui (one of the three terrorists responsible for the attack at the Brussels-National airport: he went on the run after his conditional release in 2014). We think the legislation must be made tougher’, said federal MP Sophie De Wit (New Flemish Alliance). Her colleague Raf Terwingen (Christian Democrats) said toughening up the execution of sentences was planned by the Justice Minister Koen Geens.