At the Atomium in Brussels, police had to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 people after they had gathered there following a call by two influencers from France, who announced they would hand out gifts. Police deployed the water cannon.
The two French influencers, IbraTV and Hachemi, are popular on Youtube, Instagram and Snapchat. On Monday night, the duo announced that they were giving away free stuff, such as iPhones, beard trimmers, Gamebox brand game consoles and wireless earphones.
"While waiting, some attendees set off fireworks, both horizontally and vertically," police spokesperson Ilse Van de keere told Belga News Agency. "There were even fireworks set off in the direction of our police officers."
Footage on social media shows the influencers themselves also setting off fireworks. When they arrived by bus at around 19:00, the bus was immediately surrounded by the crowd. The atmosphere became tense, with demands to hand out gifts and threats to cause vandalism, police said.
Decisive action
Police tried to let the bus leave safely, but the crowd followed the vehicle towards Avenue Houba De Strooper. To bring the situation under control, the police decided to deploy the water cannon.
"Thanks to the decisive action of the security forces, calm returned around 20:00," Van de keere said. "There were no injuries and no damage was reported."
Last weekend, their bus stopped in Lille to do the same. There too, hundreds of people turned up and the police had to intervene.
