The atmosphere in Brussels is funereal. The Christmas lights are up but the pretty Christmas market stalls are all shut tight. The streets are almost empty and even the police sirens of the past week are silent.

HUNDREDS of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a Belgian commission said yesterday.

Hundreds of sex abuse victims gave harrowing accounts of abuse by Catholic priests that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides, an independent Belgian commission said today.