“It was really crazy,” Brussels Fire Department Spokesperson Walter Derieuw told POLITICO. “We were there to help, and we were getting Molotov cocktails thrown at us.”
At the stroke of midnight, fireworks crackled in the night sky despite a ban on pyrotechnics in the city. Flares and firecrackers continued to be let off in the city center in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and a motorcyclist lobbed a firework at passersby in Ixelles on at least one occasion.
The disorder broke out despite a raft of measures by the authorities aimed at cracking down on New Year’s Eve crime. These included a controversial curfew on people younger than 16 in Anderlecht, the first-ever unification of Brussels’ six police zones under a central command, and deployment of hundreds of extra officers.
Meanwhile, Belgium’s second-largest city Antwerp also saw riots and fires, with the police recording 49 arrests.
Unrest on New Year’s Eve is an annual occurrence in Belgium, with more than 200 people arrested in the capital in 2023 and 160 in 2022.
“Unfortunately, it’s becoming a common thing,” Derieuw said.
The Brussels police department did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
