Print this page Cars torched in imitation of France From correspondents in Brussels 08nov05 FIVE cars were set on fire in Brussels overnight, raising the number of vehicles burned in the Belgian capital to 10 since Sunday in what officials say appears to be an imitation of violence in France. There were also minor incidents of arson in the northern town of Sint Niklaas and the eastern city of Liege, authorities reported. Belgian officials played down the extent of the incidents. "There were no riots. These were all very isolated incidents. Whoever set fire to the cars must have been influenced by the footage of what is going on in France," Brussels fire department spokesman Francis Boileau said. Youths rioted for a 12th successive night in France, torching more than 800 vehicles around the country and injuring four police. The Belgian authorities have sought to forestall any spill-over of the French violence by stepping up visible police patrols in streets and on public transport while increasing dialogue with immigrant community leaders. Like France, Belgium has a large immigrant population, many of Moroccan origin, with high youth unemployment. But the decentralised country has a more multicultural method of integration than France, respecting ethnic sensitivities. Philippe Moureaux, mayor of the heavily immigrant Brussels district of Molenbeek, told De Standaard daily: "Our situation cannot be compared with the French one. There are no huge, high-rise suburbs like in France ... more over, we do not have an interior minister like (Nicolas) Sarkozy, who starts provoking the troublemakers." "We will do nothing that can be perceived as being provocative," he said.
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