BRUSSELS (AP):
BELGIUM REGISTERED its worst night in a week of attacks on vehicles apparently inspired by the riots in France, with 29 cars, trucks and buses torched around the country, the government said yesterday.
Police detained about 50 people in downtown Brussels on Saturday evening after a tense stand-off between officers and groups of youths.
However, authorities insisted the incidents remained isolated and did not represent a slide toward the type of violence that has swept French cities in 17 nights of rioting.
"Nothing indicates that these acts have been organised," said a statement from the Interior Ministry. "Despite the acts of delinquency in some towns, the situation remains calm."
About 90 vehicles have been burned in Belgium in the past week, but the country has not seen rioting similar to that which has hit poor neighbourhoods of French cities where hundreds of vehicles have been torched every night.
Police were on high alert in central Brussels on Saturday evening after messages were posted on the Internet urging youths to attack downtown stores. Uniformed and plainclothes offices monitored several groups of youths milling around the central shopping area.
At one point in the early evening, police pursued a group of several dozen that ran toward the landmark Grand Place, but there were no reports of major incidents and by midnight the situation appeared calm. Nobody was reported injured.
The Interior Ministry statement said the detentions were for failing to comply with police instructions, carrying dangerous objects and wearing hoods.
Five cars and two buses were burned in Brussels overnight, the statement said.
