Brussels: Police Use Tear Gas to Disperse Anti-migration Protestors

Brussels [Belgium], Dec 17 (ANI): Police in Brussels on Sunday used tear gas and water cannon to disperse anti-migration protestors demonstrating against the United Nations' (UN) Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) agreed on by 164 countries in Marrakech on December 10.

Belgium's government was left in jeopardy last week after the right-wing N-VA Party left the government in protest of Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel's decision to sign the GCM.

The police had to resort to using the tear gas as some protestors turned violent after being asked to leave, according to Al Jazeera.

Around 5,500 protestors took part in the protests organised by Flemish right-wing parties in Brussels in areas which are the site to European Union institutions on Sunday. They have claimed that the GCM will give a boost to migration to member-nations in the bloc, that has restrictive immigration policies.

Local authorities had earlier sought to ban the protests in fear of violence, but Belgium's high court had upheld the demonstrators' right to protest peacefully while overturning the ban.

Meanwhile, left-wing groups and non-governmental organisations also took out a 1000-people strong counter-demonstration on Sunday, in support of the GCM.

The UN started working on the GCM after approximately one million refugees reached Europe in 2015 after fleeing their nations. The USA did not agree to the pact in July this year while all of the rest 192 member nations in the UN backed the GCM.

However, only 164 countries formally signed the agreement in Morocco's Marrakech, with 10 countries pulling out of the non-binding agreement. (ANI)

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