By LORNE COOK and MARK CARLSON, Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) — Hundreds of “yellow jacket” protesters upset over high taxes and living costs clashed Friday with police in Brussels. Dozens were detained as the grassroots movement that started in France two weeks ago gained traction in Belgium.
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons on protesters, who threw rocks and paving stones after they were blocked from approaching government buildings and offices in Brussels.
“Our officers started to use water cannons after they began throwing objects. They were throwing pool balls,” said Brussels city police spokeswoman Ilse Van De Keere, estimating that over 300 people were involved in the clashes.
The protests by the group that calls itself the Gilets Jaunes — “yellow vests,” after their neon garments — began two weeks ago in France. Their principal demand was a freeze on gasoline and dieserl fuel taxes, which they say disproportionately hurts the working class.
In Brussels on Friday, a riot police cordon charged protesters after they attacked two police vehicles, overturning one and setting both on fire. Road signs were uprooted and traffic lights smashed.
Around 60 people were charged with disturbing public order. Many were carrying objects that police considered to be dangerous, including razor blades, tire levers and pepper spray, she said. Some were detained for having masks: gas masks, ski masks, diving masks.
The Brussels prosecutors’ office said one person was detained for carrying a weapon and a second for willfully causing damage, while a third was being questioned by police over alleged drug offenses. It said an investigation has been opened into the torching of the police vehicles.
Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted: “all my support to forces of law and order which ensure our safety and guarantee our freedom. No impunity for the inadmissible violence in Brussels. Thugs and pillagers should be punished.”
His interior minister, Jan Jambon, lamented in a tweet what he described as “incomprehensible violence toward the police, which does its best to protect citizens and society. Scandalous.”
Earlier, dozens of protesters wearing the movement’s high-visibility vests blocked city streets, sometimes with pieces of scaffolding, causing traffic chaos along major roads. Some handed out vests to bystanders and people stuck in cars.
It’s unclear exactly who the protesters are. Belgian media say many are out in the streets over high taxes and food prices, low wages and pensions, but some question whether the movement is being exploited by far-left and far-right groups.
The French protesters took as their symbol the high-visibility vests that all French drivers are required to keep in their cars. The first weekend of protests drew more than 300,000 people to road blockades across France. One person was killed and hundreds injured.
