More than 100 detained at EU summit protest in Brussels: reports

(BRUSSELS) - Belgian police detained about one hundred people protesting against a huge EU-US free trade deal Thursday as European Union leaders gathered for a summit, with several Spanish lawmakers among those held, reports said.

About 600 people staged the protest in the EU headquarters district in central Brussels, trying to prevent the bloc's 28 leaders from reaching the summit venue which was protected by a heavy police presence.

Police made 104 "administrative arrests to prevent protesters from penetrating the security perimeter," the Belga news agency reported, adding that several violent clashes had broken out between demonstrators and police.

In Belgium, people subjected to administrative arrests are released within hours.

Marina Albiol, a leftist Spanish member of the European Parliament who was at the scene, said around 30 Spaniards were detained.

The Spanish website Publico.es said they included three regional lawmakers from the radical left Podemos party.