Situation ‘normal’ as arson attacks end

16 November 2005

BRUSSELS — No arson attacks against vehicles were reported in Brussels or other large cities on Tuesday night, indicating an end has come to recent unrest.

The Interior Ministry’s national crisis centre said there were isolated incidents, but that there are general indications of a “return to the normal situation”, newspaper ‘De Standaard’ reported on Wednesday.

There were only reports of fire damages to two cars in Sambreville and Boussu. In Courcelles, vandals attempted to set fire to car also. A wall was damaged by fire in Saint-Ghislain.

There were no reports of injuries in any of the attacks, the crisis centre said, adding that there were “isolated incidents that were not accompanied by large gatherings”.

After consecutive nights of unrest last week in which cars, trucks and buses were torched in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent, police will continue to monitor the situation.

It was initially feared last week that the riots witnessed in France this month might spread to Belgium.

However, Interior Minister Patrick Dewael said preventative police action had thwarted large riots and scenes of unrest.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Belgian news