Brussels Boosts Security for Morocco-Spain World Cup Match

The city of Brussels fears disturbances after this match counting for the World Cup round of 16 in Qatar. To this end, they have deployed the same police system as for the Morocco-Belgium match, said Brussels Mayor Philippe Close on Monday evening.

Explaining the method used to contain the riots that occurred last Thursday, the official said that "the intervention philosophy was a priori focused on tolerating a festive crowd, protecting the Winter Pleasures site, maintaining public order and restoring it..."

"You could see that on Thursday we further strengthened our staff always within the Gold structure (coordinating the action of the police zones and the reinforcements of the federal police, editor’s note). The police, with the old people from the neighborhoods, managed to calm the situation. The same system will be used tomorrow," he stressed.

According to the Mayor of the City, there was close collaboration with the other police zones, the Region, the federal government, the firefighters, the medical services, the STIB... Preparation meetings and briefings were held before and debriefings after. "Thanks to this command unity, we were able to contain the incidents on one avenue with a system that protected the city center and Winter Pleasures. I will never accept it. There is no excuse for this violence," he added.