Anti-migrant protesters clash with Belgian police
BELGIAN riot police used tear gas and water cannon yesterday to disperse thousands of people protesting in Brussels against the UN migration pact.
Some 5,500 demonstrators gathered outside the EU headquarters in Brussels, some holding banners bearing slogans including “Our people first” and “We’ve had enough, close the borders”.
The protest was organised by Flemish Right-wing parties. When asked to disperse, some began throwing paving stones, traffic signs and firecrackers at security forces, provoking the police response. A Left-wing counter-demonstration of around 1,000 people in favour of the non-binding UN migration pact took place peacefully nearby.
The Right-wing New Flemish Alliance was angered after Charles Michel, the prime minister, refused its demand that he not sign the UN migration compact in Marrakesh. The pact aims at creating a global approach to migration and was agreed in July by all 193 UN members except the US, but only 164 formally signed it last Monday.
The UN began work on the pact after more than one million people arrived in Europe in 2015, many fleeing civil war in Syria and poverty in Africa. The pact is expected to be ratified at the UN in New York on Wednesday.
♦ A fifth person has died as a result of last week’s terrorist attack in Strasbourg. The victim, identified as Barto Orent-niedzielski, 35, died after five days in a coma, Le Monde reported. Cherif Chekatt attacked a Christmas market on Tuesday night and was shot dead by police on Thursday.