Major fight breaks out in refugee reception centre

The reception centre for asylum seekers in Leopoldsburg (Limburg province) was the scene of riots that involved some 100 people yesterday. The conflict was triggered by a discussion about a female asylum seeker who didn’t wear a head scarf.

“Two or three Afghans had been targeting a young girl from Syria for a couple of days because she was not covering her head”, explains An Luyten, spokeswoman of the Red Cross. “You may call this strange, because several other girls were also not wearing a headscarf. It is not clear why they were after this girl in particular.”

The girl got fed up with the situation and the conflict created two camps, with Syrians and Iraqi residents on the one side and Afghan refugees on the other. The two groups got involved in a major fight yesterday afternoon.

Seven people sustained injuries, with one person being transported to hospital. Eleven rioters were taken in for questioning. Four Afghans will be transferred to a closed reception centre. Seven others will be sent to different asylum centres.

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