The authorities of Belgium and the Netherlands made dozens of arrests in cities in both countries on Tuesday, following Morocco’s qualification for the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
The festivities for the Moroccan team’s victory over Spain at the World Cup in Qatar (0-0, 3-1 on penalties) started festively in Brussels but ended in incidents, with 119 arrests made, a police spokesman said.
At the celebrations in Belgium, home to a large Moroccan community, supporters, especially in the Gare du Midi area, set fire to crates and threw objects at police, who responded with tear gas.
Also in the Netherlands, Dutch police arrested at least 55 people in several cities, most in Rotterdam, also for disturbances involving supporters throwing objects, fireworks, bicycles and insulting law enforcement officials.
“After Morocco’s victory, a large number of supporters took to the streets to celebrate and the vast majority behaved correctly,” the police underlined, despite disturbances in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague.
With the victory over Spain already in the shootout on penalties, with two saves from goalkeeper Bono and a ball from Sarabia on the post, Morocco will meet the Portuguese national team in the quarter-finals of Mundial2022 on Saturday.
Portugal ‘shone’ in their ‘eighth’ game, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench – he only came on in the 73rd minute – and saw his ‘replacement’, Gonçalo Ramos, score a ‘hat-trick’ and assist Raphael Guerreiro, in a 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland.
Portugal and Morocco face each other in Doha (3 p.m. in Lisbon) on Saturday from 6 p.m.
Source: DN
