Muslim woman mowed down in Molenbeek, Brussels

Video footage of the incident shows the car, which had ploughed through a police road block, driving head-on into the woman as she crossed the road. Photo / YouTube

Shocking footage has emerged of a Muslim woman being mown down by a car in a hit-and-run during an anti-Islam rally in the Brussels district of Molenbeek.

Video footage of the incident shows the car, which had ploughed through a police road block, driving head-on into the woman as she crossed the road.

The woman was thrown off the car's bonnet and skidded along the road, while the driver continued moving forward and appeared to run over her legs.

The passenger even appears to lean out of the window to take a photo after breaking through the police barricade.

WARNING: Video contains footage viewers may find upsetting

Although seriously injured, the woman appeared to be conscious to receive treatment at the scene of the crash.

Police haven't yet confirmed the woman's current condition, or the motivation behind the crash.

It came as tensions escalated in the Belgian capital, with police out in force to ward off trouble after local authorities banned the scheduled anti-Islam rally and any counter-protests.

Several hundred people attempted to gather in defiance of the ban in the troubled neighbourhood of Molenbeek, which has become known as the 'jihadi capital of Europe' after it emerged that a number of the Brussels and Paris terror attackers had connections with the district.

Meanwhile smaller far-left groups were dispersed from a central Brussels square that has become a memorial to the victims of the airport and metro attacks of March 22.

Police said they briefly detained over 100 people but only two were kept in custody, as calm returned to the district this evening.

Authorities were determined to prevent a repeat of last weekend, when riot police fired water cannon to disperse far-right football hooligans who disrupted mourners at the makeshift shrine to the attack victims.

- Daily Mail