Two men were arrested in connection with Molotov cocktails thrown at the Mechelen town hall and courthouse on Thursday evening, the Antwerp prosecutor’s office announced on Saturday. The two individuals are 36-years-old and from Mechelen, the prosecutor announced.
The two devices thrown at the town hall and the courthouse caused minor damage to the buildings. One device hit the window of the city hall. Another incendiary device landed on the roof of the courthouse, damaging cables to the building’s ventilation system in the process.
“The Molotov cocktail was thrown over a wall onto a roof, causing a cable from the building’s ventilation system to smoulder and damaged some electric and network cables,” Lieselotte Claessens, from the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office, told VRT News.
As a precaution, holding cells at the courthouse were not used on Friday. This caused a significant delays to planned trials. A third Molotov cocktail was also said to have exploded elsewhere in the city, but did no damage.
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The motivation behind the attacks is still unclear. “The Huis van de Mechelaar is our administrative centre where residents can go every day. This is totally unacceptable,” said Mayor Alexander Vandermissen.
