A team of the Brussels fire department was pelted with glass bottles last night after they were called for a garbage can on fire in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean municipality.
Last night, around 1:15 AM, the fire department received a call for a garbage can that had caught fire on the Avenue Mahatma Gandhi in Molenbeek. Upon arrival at the scene, however, the firefighters were pelted with glass bottles, thrown from the roof of an adjoining building.
"The question can be asked whether the emergency services were not deliberately lured to the scene in order to be attacked," said Walter Derieuw, spokesperson for the fire department.
While the fire was being extinguished, several projectiles were still being thrown. Nobody was injured, but "everyone is still pretty affected," he said.
The fire truck was slightly damaged during the incident, and the general management of the Brussels fire department has decided to file a complaint.
"We cannot understand that aid workers, while carrying out their tasks, at the service of the population, become victims of these acts of senseless violence," Derieuw added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
