The mayor of the Belgian city of Liège appealed for calm on Sunday, a day after riots broke out during a protest intended to highlight complaints of police violence and racism.
Around a dozen people were arrested and dozens of police officers injured as a result of the violence on Saturday, police said. The rioters smashed up shops and fast-food restaurants during their rampage.
“These are unfortunate events,” said mayor Willy Demeyer, according to broadcaster RTBF. He said he wanted to “reiterate the call for calm issued yesterday.”
Saturday’s protest was organized after a video of a police officer forcing a black woman to the ground in the city’s main square earlier in the week sparked outrage online.
Police spokesperson Benoit Ferrières said police had so far arrested a dozen people, including one minor. He confirmed reports that 36 police officers had been injured in the riots, which he said began after “a group of young people in the crowd began confronting police officers and causing damage.” He said nine officers were hospitalized.
Between 200 and 300 people took part in the riots, according to Belgian media, causing large amounts of material damage to local businesses and public property.
“Originally this was a demonstration to support the Black Lives Matter [movement] and it was linked to a police detention of a person of African origin that provoked some emotion,” Ferrière said. “The woman has filed a complaint and we cannot say anything further pending the investigation.”
The causes leading up to the woman’s detention remain unclear. Belgian media reported that the woman’s account of the incident contrasts significantly with that of the police, who have denied accusations of racism.
Ferrière said that an investigation into the riots was ongoing and that police were currently reviewing security camera footage to be able to identify “as many suspects as possible.”
Federal State Secretary for Asylum Sammy Mahdi took to Twitter to condemn the riots on Saturday evening, saying he was “even more annoyed by people who condone the Liège rioters than I am by the rioters themselves.”