Belgium fans have staged riots in the country after they slumped to an embarrassing World Cup defeat to Morocco on Sunday.
Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal both scored to earn a fantastic victory for the African side at the Al Thumama Stadium. The result has not gone down well in Belgium though with fans taking to the streets of Brussels in rampage with a car being flipped in the process.
As per various reports, police deployed water cans and fired tear gas in an effort to control the crowds as scenes turned increasingly ugly. It is believed that police arrested around a dozen people in Brussels while another eight people were detained following ugly scenes in Antwerp.
Footage has shown supporters lighting fires in the middle of the road in the Belgian capital with a red car then having its windows smashed before it was flipped.
Police spokesman Ilse Van de Keere condemned the violence, stating: "Around 7 p.m. calm returned and preventive patrols remain in place in the sectors concerned. "The rioters used pyrotechnic material, projectiles, sticks, and set fire on the public highway. Also, a journalist was injured in the face by fireworks. It is for these reasons that it was decided to proceed with a police intervention, with the deployment of water cannon and the use of tear gas."
Further videos show fans hurling fireworks and bricks towards traffic, whilst Moroccan fans living in the country continued to celebrate. Brussels mayor Philippe Close issued a strong statement to condemn the violence. He said: "I strongly condemn the incidents that occurred this afternoon. The police have already acted harshly.
"So I advise supporters not to come to the centre. The police are doing everything they can to maintain public order."
Tensions between supporters had apparently been mounting ahead of the meeting in Qatar with an estimated quarter of a million of the country's inhabitants being of Moroccan descent. Fireworks were thrown near Brussels-South railway station before kick-off, whilst the scenes grew increasingly more violent come the conclusion of the game.
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Around 100 riot police were apparently scrambled in an effort to control the chaos. It remains to be seen quite how many individuals were injured in the scenes. "Police moved in after one person suffered facial injuries," Brussels police spokeswoman Ilse Van de Keere said.
Whilst there have been violent scenes in his home country, Belgium captain Eden Hazard was forthright with his views on the underwhelming game against Morocco. After the full-time whistle, the Real Madrid winger said: “Morocco was just better than us today.
"We are all very disappointed but the Moroccans played very well. Now it will be difficult to qualify. But we are a team with great players and we will give everything against Croatia on Thursday.
"It certainly wasn't a bad match from us, but we didn't always do what was necessary defensively and we could also do better offensively. We played better than against Canada. Then we won, now we lose. That's just how it is. Congratulations to the Moroccans.”
Defeat leaves Roberto Martinez 's men in a precarious position in Group F ahead of their final fixture. They have to win against Croatia to book their place in the last-16 following their 4-1 victory over bottom side Canada.
Belgium reached the semi-finals in the World Cup in Russia having beaten England in a third-placed playoff.
