Brussels police arrested 206 people on New Year's Eve, the force confirmed on Monday morning.
These included 170 administrative arrests and 36 judicial arrests. Last year, the police made 160 arrests in the Region.
"The counter for interventions stands at 226 between 18:00 and midnight," added Brussels police. "These related to routine occurrences as well as special cases due to the celebrations. Last year, there were 386 interventions."
Regarding revellers who entered the city centre, "there was a large crowd, with up to 100,000 people present," according to police estimates. "Around midnight, 55,000 people gathered to watch the fireworks. In addition, 30,000 people attended the FCKNYE New Year's Eve party at Brussels Expo," said the police.
The police force also confirmed that the decree banning fireworks was "strictly" observed by its officers.
Firework injuries
Meanwhile, the Brussels fire brigade announced that it had responded to 663 incidents during New Year's Eve. These included 251 fire brigade responses and 412 ambulance responses.
The brigade had already been called out 20 times for burning cars by 00:30 on Sunday night. Three people had also been injured by fireworks.
"Three people have been injured by fireworks: a local authority worker, a teenager with an eye injury and a seven-year-old with a hand injury," Walter Derieuw, spokesperson for the Brussels fire brigade, confirmed to Belga on New Year's Eve.
As well as being called out to 19 burning cars, the Brussels fire brigade also had to intervene around ten times to put out fires on electric scooters and bicycles, and five times to put out fires on scooters.
They also had to extinguish 35 fires in hedges, trees and rubbish bins, Derieuw confirmed, as well as carry out their usual interventions, including two buildings on fire.
