The classification of Morocco for the next World Cup has left a trail of altercations in Belgium and the Netherlands, both with an important resident community of Moroccan origin. The Atlas Lions achieved the classification on Saturday in Abidjan, after winning Côte d’ivoire by 2-0, and the fans threw themselves into the street in Brussels. According to the local newspaper of Morgen, the atmosphere was caldeóed immediately and a part of the fans “demolished the Christmas market of the Plaza de la Bolsa”. At least 20 police officers were injured in the riots. In Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, the fans occupied several streets, according to the local police. Morocco does not participate in the World Cup since 1998.
In Brussels, the police repelled the fans with water cannons when they set fire to two cars and attacked an urban bus. They also broke the crystals of the stores and then looted them. In the shock were wounded 22 actors and a viandante, which was hospitalized. There were no arrests, but the police, who estimate that some 300 people participated in the altercations, now analyses the videos captured by the security cameras to point out to the authors. “It’s the usual football game, the winners end up in the Plaza de la Bolsa,” said Commissioner Olivier Slosse. The Minister of the Interior, the Flemish nationalist Jan Jambon, has already asked the General Inspectorate of the Federal Police to open an investigation after criticism of the delay of police intervention.
Enlarge photo smashes in a café in Brussels, provoked during the riots. NICOLAS MAETERLINCK AFP in The Hague, the riots centered the district of Schilderswijk, located in the urban center, and of great immigrant concentration. There were several arrests there after the exalted ones threw stones, cans and firecrackers against the rioting forces. In Amsterdam, the fans lit flares and then threw them at the police. The trams were not able to circulate for several hours. In Rotterdam, the agents asked the neighbors not to approach the center to avoid problems and the circulatory chaos provoked. “Look for an alternate route,” they said from their official Twitter account. The same thing happened in Utrecht. Several of the players of the Moroccan team have been born in Holland or also play in Dutch teams, and that encouraged their followers even more.
Similar incidents occurred in Marseille in 2009, after Algeria eliminated Egypt and was classified for the World Cup in South Africa
