Eighteen people have been detained by Belgian police following a demonstration in Brussels called to denounce Israeli repression in Palestine, police said on Wednesday.
Authorities blamed 150 youths on the fringe of late Tuesday's demonstration, which left an area around the United States embassy suffering severe damage.
"They smashed the windows of around sixty cars and thirty shops," a spokeswoman for Brussels police said.
He said ten of the 18 arrested were later released, while the remaining eight --six of them minors -- were referred to the Brussels public prosecutor.
Organizers of the demonstration condemned as "criminal actions" Israeli action in the West Bank and Gaza.
The president of the Belgo-Palestinian Association, Pierre Galand, said 2,500 people had marched to demand the immediate cessation of Israeli military repression. Police put the number closer to 500.
Galand called for greater intervention in the Arab-Israeli crisis on the part of the EU, saying "Europe must insist that Israeli military forces respect civilians. These are not rubber bullets they are firing against civilians, these are real ones," he said -- BRUSSELS (AFP)
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