Protests in Belgium and Albania see clashes between protesters and police

Protesters and police clashed during student protests in Belgium and Albania, this Saturday (24).

In Brussels, the Belgian capital, hundreds of people gathered at around 1 pm local time at the central station to begin a march towards the Gare du Midi train station, but a riot broke out when some of them tried to block the road.

Images taken by Reuters news agency show protesters running and falling while surrounded by police, and officers attacking a protester with punches, kicks and baton blows.

In Tirana, the Albanian capital, protesters threw stones at police, who used cannons and water to contain them.

In France, where protests against the government and the high cost of living began about a month ago, protests were also recorded in several cities across the country.

In Lyon and Pau, cities in the south, police used tear gas to contain the outbreak of riots.

In Lyon, France's third-largest city, officers fired stun bombs after demonstrators, who were protesting near a university college and the city's police station, tried to block a street. There was a small confrontation with some of them.

In Pau, a witness recorded on video the moment a stampede began after the gas was released.

According to the AFP news agency, police also used tear gas grenades in Lille, Toulouse and Nantes.

Despite the incidents, until early Saturday afternoon, no major incidents had been recorded in the acts authorized by the government to occur.

In Paris, the demonstration began peacefully, with hundreds of people gathered on the streets of the French capital.

According to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, 135 people were arrested across the country, but many of the arrests occurred after preventive searches that also resulted in the seizure of items that could be used as weapons. Among them, metal balls, pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel bullets, improvised weapons, a katana and airsoft weapons.

A day earlier, at a press conference, he announced a reinforced security scheme, with 70,000 police officers and special agents mobilized to contain possible episodes of violence, looting and depredations like those that occurred a week ago.

"We have to be extremely agile. We have received many requests for interruption from political groups and, quite simply, from criminals. It's going to be a long day," he told reporters.