Masked anarchists wielding cobble stones and metal staves attacked two banks and a police station as violence flared during an anti-globalisation demonstration outside a European Union summit in Brussels. Witnesses said the rioters, some dressed in black and wearing heavy boots, smashed the windows of the banks in place bockstael, a square about three km from the Laeken Royal Palace where the summit was being held.
They also hurled a metal barrier through the windows of a police station near the square as riot control units and water cannon moved into place. There was no immediate clash with the rioters. About 20 police in riot gear cordoned off a street off the square but did not intervene as the anarchists wrecked three parked cars with sticks and metal poles. Protesters daubed anti-capitalist and anti-war slogans on boarded-up shop windows along the route.
Bureau Report