Belgian police have used a water cannon to break up a protest by a group of far right “scoundrels” who hijacked a peace vigil in the centre of the Brussels in the wake of Tuesday’s bombings.

Organisers had cancelled plans for rally but people still gathered in Place de la Bourse, where a makeshift memorial has sprung up, to express solidarity with the victims of the suicide bomb attacks at Brussels Airport and metro train.

Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, but white-helmeted riot police used the water cannon against a group that burst onto the square carrying banners denouncing the Islamic State (IS) group militant group and shouting anti-migrant slogans.

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“It is highly inappropriate that protesters have disrupted the peaceful reflection at the Bourse,” Prime Minister Charles Michel said.

“I strongly condemn these disturbances.”

Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur said the group were “scoundrels”.

New raids across Belgium

Police used a water cannon against a group that burst onto the vigil shouting anti-migrant slogans. Photo: ABC

Police have meanwhile carried out 13 new raids in various parts of the capital as the investigations continue into the attacks that left 31 people dead and hundreds injured.

Nine people were arrested and questioned, the prosecutor’s office said, with five later released.

With links to the Paris attacks in November becoming clearer, and amid criticism that Europe has not done enough to share intelligence about suspected Islamist militants, cooperation appeared to be deepening.

Local media said on Sunday that prosecutors had charged a man in connection with a raid in Paris on Thursday that authorities say foiled an apparent attack plot.

The suspect was named as Abderamane A. who prosecutors had said on Saturday was being held after being shot in a raid in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek.

After a series of raids in Belgium and Germany, Italian police also arrested Algerian Djamal Eddine Ouali, who is suspected of making fake travel documents for militants linked to the bombings.

His name was found in documents in a raid on an apartment near Brussels last October, including some with photos of militants involved in the attacks in Paris and in Brussels and the aliases they used.

– ABC