Riot police fired water cannon on Sunday at far-right football hooligans who invaded a square in the Belgian capital that has become a memorial to the victims of the Brussels attacks. Police took action after about 200 black-clad hooligans shouting nationalist and anti-immigrant slogans moved in on the Place de la Bourse where people were gathering in a show of solidarity with the victims.
Around 10 people were arrested, police told AFP. Hooligans set off firecrackers and threw street signs at the police as they fled the water cannon. "This is our home" and "The state, Daesh accomplice," the hooligans shouted in unison, using an alternate term for the Islamic State group that claimed Tuesday's suicide bombings in Brussels that killed 28 people.
Scores of people were gathered around the mass of flowers and candles that have been left in front of the ornate former Brussels stock exchange which has been draped in flags and messages of support and sympathy.
"We are football hooligans, we don't have anything to do with politics," said Andres, one of the demonstrators. "We are here for the victims and to pay our respects."
In the grieving Belgian capital, a defiant "March Against Fear" had been planned for Sunday from the Place de La Bourse but was called off after authorities said the mass gathering could draw much-needed resources away from the investigation into the attacks.
"I am appalled by what is happening, to learn that such thugs have come to provoke residents at the site of their memorial," Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur told Belga news agency.
"We were warned yesterday they were potentially coming and I see that nothing was done to stop them from coming to Brussels."
Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel told Belga he "emphatically" condemned the demonstration. Police urged the mourners, which included some Muslims, not to provoke the hooligans, but some joined in chanting "Fascists! Fascists! We're not having it!"