Belgian “Youths” Riot for Third Night
Youths riot in Brussels again over inmate death.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - About a hundred youths of North African origin rioted in central Brussels on Tuesday on a second night of trouble following the death of an inmate in jail, a police official said.
Violence broke out on Monday evening in the working class Marolles district of Brussels after news that a 25-year-old inmate of North African origin died on Sunday, the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
The inmate was given a product to help him calm down, the official said. An investigation has been launched.
On Tuesday, the youths torched a youth centre, attacked police cars and shops.
All the rioters on Tuesday were of North African origin, the official said, adding that 30 people were arrested.
UPDATE at 9/27/06 9:56:26 am:
The Brussels Journal has more information—this has been going on for three nights, not two: Third Night of Ramadan Rioting in Capital of Europe.
And as Snapped Shot notes, the mainstream wire services have utterly ignored the story.
The third day of rioting in the Marollen district of Brussels commenced today, events which were sparked by the apparent murder of a Moroccan prisoner in a Brussels prison. What makes this story unusual is that so far, there has only been one report issued across the newswires (by Reuters) covering the events, and even though the rioting is entering its third day, not a single photographer has been dispatched to document the activities of the Muslim mob.
We have learned from reports in Belgium (which have been roughly translated via Babelfish) that the prisoner was apparently poisoned, and there were no external signs of injury on his body. The parents of the family, and subsequently the mob, blame the Belgian government for his death, but autopsy reports turned in so far have not been definitive. A more telling video documents some of the reported destruction, but I’m sure there’s plenty there that’s not covered as well.
In the riots, as reported by the Brussels Journal, stores have been firebombed, bus shelters have been demolished, cars have been set alight, and two Molotov cocktails were thrown into St. Peter’s Hospital, which is “one of the main hospitals in central Brussels.” Yet amongst all of this mele�, the Associated Press hasn’t seen fit to send a photojournalist? Nor Reuters?