Brussels on level four security alert after Paris attacks
Police have undertaken an array of raid operations to ensure Belgium’s safety as it is likely to experience a serious Paris-like attack anytime.
Belgian police raided the country late on Sunday after Prime Minister Charles Michel announced another lockdown across the nation’s capital Brussels on Monday. “We fear an attack in Paris, with several individuals, perhaps in several places,” Michel, the chairman of the country’s national security leadership, stated in a press conference in Brussels.
He said all schools and the subway will also remain closed on Monday because a similar Paris attack is feared in Belgium’s capital city. The threat was considered to be serious and imminent.
The Belgian police spokesman told AFP that various operations were in progress because of the terror threat in the nation. He requested the media not to comment directly on the matter relating to the actions under progress and not to mention the places “for example.” He further said that the public prosecutors will hold a press conference when everything is over.
Prior to the raid, the public broadcaster announced several arrests from the region and said that the operation was over. The prosecutors planned a news conference at 12:30 a.m.
The Belgian crisis centre was reportedly on a great security threat. It said in a tweet that Brussels was on the maximum level four security, while other cities across the nation, under possible threat, will remain at level three. The PM did not mention anything about the manhunt for the terror attacks suspects, including Salah Abdeslam, who slipped from French security’s hands after the Paris carnage.
Belgian authorities have put Brussels under maximum security alert since Saturday when they announced shutting down the metro system and warned people to avoid crowds before further lockdowns on Sunday as well as Monday after the severe Paris attacks on Nov. 13, which killed 130 people.
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