Around 35,000 protest against COVID restrictions in Brussels, police say

Belgium had tightened its coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday

Around 35,000 people took to the streets in Brussels on Sunday to protest against restrictions imposed by the government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, police said.

There were some confrontations between demonstrators and police, with protesters throwing smoke bombs and fireworks, the newspaper Le Soir reported.

The situation normalized later, police said.

Belgium had tightened its coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, mandating wider use of masks and enforcing work from home, as cases rose in the country's fourth COVID-19 wave.