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Daily Record
Daily Record
World
Daniel Orme & Steven Rae

World Cup fans riot with 'police using water cannons and tear gas' as Morocco beat Belgium

Belgian football fans have rioted in their home country after their 2-0 World Cup defeat to Morocco on Sunday.

Goals from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal sealed an upset victory for the African side, leaving Belgium in third place with three points and a tricky game against Croatia on Thursday in Qatar.

Sunday's result at the Al Thumama Stadium has not gone down well in Belgium with fans in Brussels taking to the streets to riot - with a car flipped over during the trouble, the Mirror reports.

Several news outlets have reported police using water cannons and tear gas to try and control the ugly scenes as supporters rioted.

Footage has emerged online of people starting fires in the middle of the road in the capital, with the car being flipped after having its windows smashed.

A fan holding a Moroccan flag, with a care on fire in the background in Brussels. (AFP for Getty Images)

Other videos show fans launching bricks and lit fireworks towards moving vehicles. Moroccan fans living in Belgium were seen carrying on their celebrations as the trouble boiled over.

There were apparent tensions before the tie between rival supporters, with around 250,000 people of Moroccan descent thought to be living in the European nation.

Philippe Close, the Mayor of Brussels, condemned the rioting and violence. He said: "I strongly condemn the incidents that occurred this afternoon. The police have already acted harshly.

"So I advise supporters not to come to the centre. The police are doing everything they can to maintain public order."

Pior to the game, there were fireworks thrown near Brussels-South railway station, but the ugly scenes escalated considerably after the final whistle.

Around 100 riot police were reportedly brought in to try and quell the violence. There has been no official statement released yet regarding the number of injured people or arrests made.

However a spokeswoman for the Brussels Police said: "Police moved in after one person suffered facial injuries."

Some of the debris left behind after the chaos in Brussels on Sunday. (AFP for Getty Images)

Roberto Martinez 's side now has to win against Croatia to make it out of the group stage. Croatia managed to come back from a goal down to defeat Canada 4-1 in their match on Sunday afternoon.

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