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November 9, 2005

Youths set vehicles ablaze in Belgium for 3rd night

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Youths set fire to vehicles in several cities in Belgium for the third night on Tuesday in what officials say appeared to be an imitation of violence in France. 

A car, a bus and a truck went up in flames in the port city of Antwerp, while a car was set ablaze in Ghent. Another car was torched in Lokeren, a town located between Ghent and Antwerp. 

"It's quite clearly a copycat case involving several youngsters relating to the events in Paris," Ghent police commissioner Steven De Smet told VRT radio. 

Several vehicles were damaged by molotov cocktails in Brussels. "The cabin (of a van) was already on fire when we arrived at the scene," Guy Cloetens of the city's fire department told VRT television. 

Public officials have stressed the fires were isolated cases, devoid of any riots. 

The officials have sought to forestall any spillover of the French violence by stepping up police patrols and increasing dialogue with immigrant community leaders. 

Like France, Belgium has a large immigrant population, many of Moroccan origin, with high unemployment among the young. 

But the decentralised country has a more multicultural method of integration than France, respecting ethnic sensitivities. 


Copyright © 2005 Reuters

  









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