Wednesday evening took a turn when a peaceful demonstration for more clarity about the death of Ibrahima Barrie (23) after his arrest by the Brussels police was followed by a riot.
Rioters clashed with the police, started throwing stones at them, and even set a police station on fire in Schaerbeek. 116 people were arrested.
Ibrahima died last weekend after he was arrested and taken to the nearest police station at Place Liedts in Schaerbeek after fleeing from a coronavirus check at the North station.
However, shortly after arriving at the station, he lost consciousness and was taken by emergency services to hospital, where he died soon after.
Since then, the results of the autopsy report have shown that Barrie died of heart failure, and that there were no traces of drugs in his system.
According to the family's lawyer, however, the police action against Barrie may not have been legally justified, as he had not been part of the group by the station, but had been filming the police action perfectly legally when police came for him.
Police oversight body Committee P has opened an investigation into involuntary manslaughter, and according to Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, “everything will be done to see if anything went wrong during the intervention, but there is no indication of that to date.”
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Jules Johnston & Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
