A teenage boy, part of the Moroccan supporters, was run down on the streets of Montpellier in France during the unrest
Moroccan fans clashed with the police on Wednesday evening in central Brussels, after the country lost 2-0 to France in the FIFA World Cup semi-final.
Around 100 soccer fans, some wrapped in Moroccan flags, briefly clashed with police throwing fireworks and other objects and setting alight some garbage bags and cardboard boxes.
Police responded with water cannons and tear gas. Police also detained several fans and said that the clashes were brief and caused no serious damage.
However, a teenage boy, part of the Moroccan supporters, was run down on the streets of Montpellier during the unrest. According to a report in Daily Mail, the crowd while marching down Rue de la Mosson came across a white hatchback with a French flag flying out of its window.
When the car made a hasty U-turn to cross into the oncoming lane and make a quick getaway, the teenager was sucked under the wheels, sustaining critical injuries. He was later declared dead by the hospital authorities, the report said.
Reuters reporters saw police detain several of the fans but said the clashes were brief and caused no serious damage.
The riot police were battling to maintain order as French and Moroccan football supporters clashed in cities across France and Belgium following the World Cup semi-finals.
In the French cities of Montpellier and Nice, the fans fought in the streets, launching flares at one another and setting fire to rubbish bins in the streets.
In the first World Cup held in an Arab country, and one already marked by upsets, Morocco won supporters far afield as the first Arab team to reach the quarter-finals and the first African team to reach the semis.
France became the first team to storm into the second successive World Cup final since Brazil in 2002.
There were jubilant scenes on the Champs-Elysees avenue in central Paris as French supporters waved tricolour flags and let off flares to celebrate the win over Morocco that put Les Bleus into the World Cup final.
Some 10,000 police were mobilised across France to ensure there was no unrest during and after the match, given the potential of clashes between French supporters and those backing France’s one-time North African colony.
But there was little sign of tension as supporters thronged the end of the avenue leading to the Arc de Triomphe in impassioned but largely good-natured scenes with Moroccan supporters accepting defeat, AFP correspondents said.
