“The objective is to unclog the neighborhoods of Brussels to ensure that the supporters of Morocco go to this party zone as much as possible.“, explains Ilse Van de Keere, spokesperson for the Brussels Capital Ixelles police zone. “Saturday evening, there were 1,000 people at Antoine Dansaert and 8,000 supporters in the center of Molenbeek. We are doing everything to make the party a good one. zone festive will be created on boulevard Lemonnier and on boulevard du Midi. Fans will be comfortable in this space and there will be no cars.”
An assessment must take place this Monday morning to determine the security measures that will be put in place by the police. “We will then determine the number of staff as well as the means to be put in place. The match is prepared by the Brussels Capital Ixelles police zone in collaboration with the other police zones and the federal police. Our police zone will have the direction of operations and the management of the integrated device. Coordination will be done from the regional crisis center where all the partners involved will be present. The police will have a visible presence on the ground.”she says.
“ The few overflows that occurred on Saturday evening have nothing to do with those which occurred during the first matches. There are far fewer problems. We would like to thank the green vests, so these residents who form human chains to protect the police, because it helps us a lot“, ajoute Ilse Van de Keere.
“I would like to emphasize the perfect collaboration between the police zones and the federal police”explains the mayor of the City of Brussels Philippe Close. “As soon as incidents broke out, we immediately intervened. There was also good collaboration between the inhabitants, the traders and the police. I want to insist on the fact that this is an extreme minority of troublemakers. Unfortunately, this often happens with football. But the joy of Belgian-Moroccans in Brussels was a pleasure to see !”
Brussels police made 59 arrests following Morocco’s victory once morest Portugal on Saturday. Interestingly enough, nearly half of those arrested are minors (24). Two people were arrested before the game for being in possession of fireworks. A person was also the subject of a judicial arrest. In terms of material damage, a parking meter was destroyed and police came under projectiles near Square de l’Aviation in Brussels-City and on Place Barra in Anderlecht. No police were injured. In Antwerp, the police came under projectiles. 87 people were arrested.
“Tonight, we love each other. Wednesday, we divorce” : a crowd of supporters of France and Morocco celebrated – together – on Saturday evening on the Champs-Élysées, in Paris, the qualification of their respective teams for the semi-finals. Some 20,000 people gathered on the Champs-Élysées. Hundreds of arrests took place.
Finally, in the Netherlands, around thirty supporters were arrested in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. In Rotterdam, the mounted police had to disperse the crowd, and the arrests mainly related to the use of fireworks.