"Outraged" plan protests after arrests in Brussels

The "Indignados" (outraged) movement, which converged in Brussels this weekend, went back to planning its next protest on Sunday after 48 of its members, arrested the day before, were released by police.

All of the protesters who were taken into custody, including 27 Spaniards, walked free without any charges or fines after a 12-hour arrest.

"Everyone is back without any penal, legal or economic consequences," said one of the movement's international coordination chiefs.

Protesters marching from Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands arrived in the Belgian capital on Saturday ahead of a European Union summit on October 17 and 18, when leaders will discuss the continent's ongoing debt crisis.

The foreign demonstrators were joined by a group of Belgian sympathizers. The entire group of around 400 people then attempted to set up an informal camp in Elizabeth Park, mirroring camp-outs held earlier this year in Madrid and Athens in protest over the politicians' handling of the economic crisis.

But the mayor of the Brussels district of Koekelberg, where the park is located, said camping was prohibited because it is a protected area. Instead, he offered protesters an empty building with running water and electricity at Flanders University campus.

Some of the demonstrators said they were disappointed at the way their own group had handled the setback. "They say they want to improve the world and they've been debating for two hours about whether to sleep in the mud," said one man.

A lack of consensus resulted in part of the group moving into the campus and another one staying in the park, leading to the arrests.

On Sunday, the Indignados held new assemblies to discuss their next moves, which include a demonstration "for global change" in downtown Brussels. More protesters from the UK and Germany are expected to arrive over the coming week.

Spanish demonstrators staged the first public camp-outs against austerity measures that have hit the man on the street while leaving bankers and politicians — viewed as the real culprits of the crisis — unscathed.

The movement has since spread to other European capitals, and more recently to the United States, where protesters have clashed with police in New York and elsewhere.