After the Moroccan victory within the penalty shootout, peaceable celebrations broke out on the avenue Lemonnier in Brussels, with a whole lot of Moroccan supporters gathered there with flags and fireworks. Until a gaggle of radicals launched fireworks on the police, who needed to intervene utilizing tear fuel and water cannons to disperse the rioters.
“Young individuals determined to launch fireworks on the police, apparently for no purpose. It was an escalation of violence. They fashioned teams to harass the police and spoil the get together,” Elmehdi El Aroui, a Moroccan fan and witness to the riots, informed the Reuters company.
Celebrations additionally received out of hand in Antwerp, the place round 20 individuals have been detained. After the match ended, a number of thousand individuals, most of them younger, took to the streets of the port metropolis and set off fireworks. Morocco defeated Spain within the spherical of 16, changing into the primary Arab nation to achieve the quarterfinals. Their subsequent rival might be Portugal.