Brussels - A neighbourhood police station was set ablaze in a molotov cocktail attack when violence erupted after dark in a Brussels suburb leading to more than 50 arrests, police said Saturday.
The attack on Friday night resulted in no injuries as the local police station was closed.
It was one of several acts of violence and vandalism in Anderlecht, on the western rim of Brussels, which police said had been organised in advance via phone text messages.
Those arrested were aged between 15 and 20, a local police spokeswoman told AFP, and at least six vehicles were damaged.
The pretext for the violence was accusations of mistreating detainees in nearby Forest prison, the spokeswoman said.
"These are professional vandals... people who are trained urban guerrillas and who themselves train very young adolescents," added Anderlecht's deputy mayor Fabrice Cumps.
The police said none of the arrests was directly linked to the molotov cocktail attack which caused substantial damage to the police station. Municipal offices in the same building were damaged as well.
Calm was restored by the early hours of Saturday after firefighters tackled the blaze, and Interior Minister Annemie Turtelboom visited the scene in the morning.
AFP/Expatica
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