Belgium: Kurds and Chechens Battle it out in Liege: One Dead

Liege, Belgium

In many European cities, immigrant youth gangs are fighting pitched battles against each other in the streets. We earlier reported on wars ongoing between Chechen and Moroccan immigrants in France. Yesterday in Liege, Belgium, there was a pitched battle between Chechens and Kurds. One Chechen was shot to death.

The below article from the Dutch-language Belgian newspaper, De Standaard, is translated by Fousesquawk. 

 https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20210416_95821132

28 arrests after deadly confrontation between rival gangs in Liege

Yesterday at 10:12 by jvh, nba

Two rival youth gangs fought out a conflict Friday afternoon in the streets of the Liege suburb of Bressoux. During the fight, there was one dead and two injured. The Liege prosecutor's office has begun an investigation.

In the Liege suburb of Bressoux, a severe fight broke out Friday afternoon. The events took place around 1700 hours Friday evening on the Avenue de Nancy.

A young man of Chechen origin was attacked by a gang of masked men with baseball bats when he was driving on the street in his car. "The young man tried to drive away, but in doing so, he drove into some parked cars. He was then shot at," says Damien Leboutte of the Liege prosecutor's office. The victim later succumbed to his wounds in the hospital.

Two others were injured during their arrest. In total, the police, who arrived at the scene en masse, arrested 28 people.

The prosecutor's office of Liege opened an investigation after the events. The arrested were interrogated, and Friday evening, an investigating judge, a police doctor, and a ballistics expert also came to the scene. According to the Liege prosecutor's office, the latter expert was called because there were heavy weapons used. There are pictures that have appeared in which a Kalashnikov is seen.

During the confrontation, a TEC bus was hit with a stone. Several lines have been diverted or canceled this weekend.

According to different French-language media, the fight was the result of a conflict between youths with Kurdish and Chechen background(s) who live in Liege or Verviers. The information was not confirmed by the prosecutor's office. The young man who died is reportedly a Chechen.

According to the Wallonian newspaper, La Meuse, it was about a settling of scores. The two gangs met each other not by chance. The confrontation was set up via social media. They are reportedly very young gang members.

The police are wary of retaliation. On social media, there is now a call for revenge circulating. Saturday afternoon, one of the gangs reportedly wants to go to Verviers. "The Verviers police are aware of the call and have taken the necessary measures", the RTBF reports.

Correction 4/17: We first reported that the dead victim was a woman, but that is not correct.