Unrest rocks Liege after Black woman's arrest

Belgium's eastern city of Liege is assessing damage after a Black Lives Matter demonstration turned violent Saturday, leaving fast-food outlets and shops looted.

On Sunday, Liege police said nine officers were hospitalized — and 36 total injured — and about 10 people had been arrested.

The apparent trigger was video footage of a Black woman being forcibly arrested by two officers on Liege's central Place Saint-Lambert last Monday.

The woman, who was seen pinned to the ground by officers in the video, then filed a complaint of racism. That's denied by police, who say she resisted arrest.

Riots break out on protest sidelines

Saturday's protest in Liege had begun peacefully, but "young people joined," said a police spokeswoman, and went on to "wreck the city center" and throw stones at the central police station in the French-speaking Wallonia region.

"They ransacked a whole McDonald's," said a city authority spokeswoman.

Authorities said they clashed with 200 to 300 people.

"They appeared in a few minutes and from the way they set about the damage, the thefts, we see that it wasn't a trial run," said police chief Christian Beaupere, describing the organized nature of the violence.

Order was reestablished by late Saturday as reinforcements joined some 250 officers who had used water cannon and tear gas against crowds.

Authorities urged citizens to avoid the city center and shops to close.

The Black Lives Matter movement spread worldwide last year from the United States. On Friday the city of Minneapolis said it would settle a civil lawsuit brought by the family of George Floyd, a Black man whose death in police custody sparked nationwide protests.

Over the past year, Belgium has seen a number of protests against racism, and also over the country's colonial origins.

ipj/rs (dpa, AFP)