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A reported 1,000 police officers were involved in the search for Salah Abdeslam. Over the weekend police conducted at least 20 raids around the city and nearby areas, making 16 arrests but releasing 15 of these people. Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said 23 November that a man had been charged with involvement in the Paris terrorist attacks and for membership of a terrorist organization. On Monday 21 more arrests were made, with 17 released.
On 24 November, evening prosecutors announced
From 21 to 25 November 2015, the government of Belgium imposed a security
zeit, 23 November 2015 The lockdown caused disruption to major institutions and organizations headquartered in the city, such as
described the city as having "come to a standstill." After 5 days, the lockdown was lifted on 25 November, schools reopened and the metro resumed service but some stores remained closed. Like Paris, which saw a drop in tourism, Brussels saw an immediate drop in visitors and an increase in last minute hotel cancellations. Some shops, cafes and hotels that remained open reported 90% to 100% drop in business.
lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
on Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, including the closure of shops, schools, public transportation, due to information about potential terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
attacks in the wake of the series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
on 13 November. One of the perpetrators of the attack, Belgian-born French national Salah Abdeslam, was thought to be hiding in the city. As a result of warnings of a serious and imminent threat, the terror alert level was raised to the highest level (four) across the Brussels metropolitan area, and people were advised not to congregate publicly, effectively putting the city under lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
.
Impact
On the first day of the lockdown, '' Haaretz'' described, "an atmosphere of war.Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
convoys passed through the streets. Armored cars were posted at central points, outside the royal palace, and at underground railway stations." Police requested a social media blackout to prevent disclosure of police operations. Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
users responded with cat pictures (a reference to security level Four, or in French, quatre pronounced cat).
On 23 November, the third day of the lockdown, all schools and universities remained closed along with the Metro. Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Charles Michel
Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician serving as the president of the European Council since 2019. He previously served as the prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019.
Michel became the minister of Developm ...
announced that the lockdown measures would stay in place, "for at least another week. But schools and the metro can be reopened gradually from Wednesday."Höchste Terrorwarnstufe in Brüssel verlängert zeit, 23 November 2015 The lockdown caused disruption to major institutions and organizations headquartered in the city, such as
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, which removed all non-essential personnel on 23 November, and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, which opened on Monday with reinforced security measures. Belgium's biggest bank KBC Bank
KBC Group is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was created in 1998 through the merger of Kredietbank ...
entirely closed its headquarters on Monday.
As the lockdown continued into its third day, the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Costs
The lockdown is estimated to have cost €51.7 million per day, counting both the outlay on security and lost business income. Belgium is also facing a demand from the police for a budgetary increment of €100 million to cover ongoing increases in costs due to the terrorism threat. The total cost was estimated at €350 million, and tourist numbers in December 2015 were down 20% on the previous December. In January, in order to restore the city's reputation after the lockdown, Visit Brussels launched an initiative Call Brussels in which members of the public could call public telephones in the city via their computer.Arrests and charges
A reported 1,000 police officers were involved in the search for Salah Abdeslam. Over the weekend police conducted at least 20 raids around the city and nearby areas, making 16 arrests but releasing 15 of these people. Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said 23 November that a man had been charged with involvement in the Paris terrorist attacks and for membership of a terrorist organization. On Monday 21 more arrests were made, with 17 released.
On 24 November, evening prosecutors announced terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
charges had been filed against four men:
*Hamza Attou and Mohammed Amri. Lawyers for these two men said they had admitted driving Salah Abdeslam from Paris to Brussels after the Paris attacks but said they had nothing to do with the attacks.
*"Ali O.", a 31-year-old French national who lived in Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels.
*"Lazez A.", a 39-year-old Moroccan also from Molenbeek arrested on 19 November. Two pistols and traces of blood were found in his car.
Aftermath
King Philippe of Belgium addressed the Brussels lockdown and Paris attack in his annual Christmas Address. He said during his speech, ''"My special thanks go to all those who have fought for it and continue to work to ensure our safety, to identify the perpetrators of these attacks and to prevent new ones. These events have shown how important it is to invest in the judiciary, police, army and intelligence services. I also want to thank you all, and especially the people of Brussels, for your dignified and responsible behavior during this difficult time."''Precedents
Extended lockdowns of entire urban areas because of terrorism have been rare; the European Union called the Brussels lockdown "unprecedented". The extent of the lockdown went well beyond measures taken the last time Belgium declared a level four alert in 2007. One previous example of a citywide lockdown was the one-day lockdown ofBoston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in April 2013 as police hunted for the Islamist terrorists responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing
The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...
.
See also
* January 2015 anti-terrorism operations in Belgium *2015 Saint-Denis raid
The 2015 Saint-Denis raid was a police raid which became a shootout between at least one hundred French police and soldiers and suspected members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Following the Nov ...
*2016 Brussels bombings
On 22 March 2016, two coordinated terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium were carried out by the Islamic State. Three coordinated suicide bombings occurred: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station on the Brussels ...
*Brussels ISIL terror cell
The Brussels ISIL terror cell were a group accused of involvement in large-scale terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 (130 killed) and Brussels in early 2016 (32 killed), as well as other attacks against European targets. The terror ce ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brussels lockdown, 2015Lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
City lockdowns
Counterterrorism in Belgium
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Belgium
Manhunts
November 2015 Paris attacks
Police raids on Islamists