Just a few months after the Paris attacks, Brussels is in flames. What is to be done?
This Tuesday morning at rush hour, Brussels was rocked by multiple explosions. The first two occurred at the airport, and the last one at a tube station in the heart of the city, near the EU Offices.
At least 13 people were found dead in the Zaventem Airport suicide explosion and many more have been injured. In Maelbeek underground station, it is speculated that 10 or more have been killed. The airport has been evacuated, and all flights cancelled.
The airport explosion was so severe that it destroyed the windows and devastated the terminal. In both places, witnesses described horrific and chaotic scenes.
These attacks happened four days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, suspected to be one of the organisers of the November 13th Paris attacks. Moreover, yesterday Jan Jambon, Belgium’s interior Minister, expressed his worries saying that jihadists could protest against this capture by attacking the country with more atrocities. Belgium had raised the terror alert to four, which is the highest level.
In the UK, the government has reacted by reinforcing security in ‘key locations’. The number of police increased in Heathrow and Gatwick airport and flights between the UK and Brussels have been disrupted. Eurostar trains to Brussels from London have been cancelled. The boarder between France and Belgium has also been closed.
David Cameron, Prime Minister, stated on Tweeter: ‘I am shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels. We will do everything we can to help’.
The UK terror alert has stayed at ‘severe’ since 2014, and will probably remain at this level during the upcoming months because of the recent violence in two of Europe’s cultural capitals.
DISCLAIMER: The articles on our website are not endorsed by, or the opinions of Shout Out UK (SOUK), but exclusively the views of the author.
