A reader who wants to stay anonymous sent us this witness account of yesterday's SIOE demonstration in Brussels.

I attended the demo in Bruxelles and we were in the city early enough to see the police forming up in various backstreets complete with water cannon and armed reserve units. What are they frightened of?

The police initiated violence without provocation and I personally witnessed and photographed the officer who appeared to be coordinating the assaults on people.  This officer was busy throughout the encounter and was seen and photographed maneuvering frequently between groups of uniformed police and communicating with unknown others whereupon he re-directed the troops to another snatch operation against identified targets ... it was fascinating to watch and he became appallingly clumsy, predictable and blase about his nefarious actions - he obviously was having a really thrilling 'boys day out' telling 'the lads' who to pounce on next - a real hardline bully.

I witnessed first hand the un-provoked and un-warranted assaults on peaceful participants and stood near groups of armed officers waiting for their instructions listening to them in 4 separate locations whispering, nodding and calling up attention onto apparently specific participants who were moving around and circulating.

I am convinced the police were there deliberately to target specific individuals as they left many participants alone who clearly were not in their sights - myself included.

The vast array of armed 'stormtroopers' in backstreets and my witnessing of their subsequent initiation of unprovoked assaults against targeted participants leads me to firmly believe there was a counter-agenda. The SIoE demonstration was but a sideshow and Freddy-the-Mayor is just a stalking horse.

What is going on in Belgium? I saw this in East Germany some years ago, Northern Ireland and Chile.  But Belgium! What is happening ?