Belgium raises terror threat level to level 4 (highest level) for Brussels

originally posted by: laminatedsoul

originally posted by: stumason
Grow some balls, for Pete's sake.

Yeah, grow a pair. If they blow up a crowd of defiant people, it's only a few dozen or so more. Who needs people, right? Safety? Pshht.

You should all go look for the guys, and hug them when they detonate.

Instead, you're all going to cower in your houses for days on end until the Government tells you that it's safe to go out again?

Yeah, grow a pair.

There is a greater chance of you being in a car accident than being in a terrorist attack, yet you're not avoiding your cars like the plague are you? Seriously, you're missing the point - you've given into the terrorists by behaving in this manner.

I live near Turnhout
Yep, everybody is gone crazy and scared, stay safe...

To all members in Belgium, my prayers are with you. Stay safe, and stay strong.

Yes, one can do both. Avoiding obvious targets when there is credible evidence of a real, imminent threat, isn't what I'd call "cowering in fear"; it's what I'd call proper precautions. When I hiked in the woods as a child, I'd carry a long walking stick, to aid in avoiding snakes. Didn't mean I was afraid of them; just meant I had some sense, and did what as needed to avoid being bitten.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

To these guys, any target is an obvious target, so you may as well go about your business and just be vigilant, like I said.

I've lived through IRA terrorism when I lived in Belfast and Germany.

Yes, you check under your car for bombs and watch out for suspicious behavior but you don't sit in your house all weekend because the Government said there might be an attack.

I'm more of the mind thinking "Ok, so there might be an attack - it's your job to stop it - now get on with it"

As I said, there is a higher chance of you being involved in all manner of mundane events than a terror act - yet you don't live your life in fear of your washing machine exploding, or a plane falling on your head, or of lightning striking your house do you?

The biggest FU a terrorist can get is everyone ignoring their actions and behaving precisely as they would if they had done nothing.

The aim of terrorism is to effect change via violence or the threat of it - in Belgium, they have won.

Well done, Belgium, well done... /sarc

Here some video footage from last evening in Brussels, sorry no sound...

16 suspects were arrested, but not this abdesalam? dude. BBC
There were shots fired at a car, i guess they expected more resistance and that's why they advised people to stay at home and away from windows.

originally posted by: stumason
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

To these guys, any target is an obvious target, so you may as well go about your business and just be vigilant, like I said.

I've lived through IRA terrorism when I lived in Belfast and Germany.

Yes, you check under your car for bombs and watch out for suspicious behavior but you don't sit in your house all weekend because the Government said there might be an attack.

I'm more of the mind thinking "Ok, so there might be an attack - it's your job to stop it - now get on with it"

As I said, there is a higher chance of you being involved in all manner of mundane events than a terror act - yet you don't live your life in fear of your washing machine exploding, or a plane falling on your head, or of lightning striking your house do you?

The biggest FU a terrorist can get is everyone ignoring their actions and behaving precisely as they would if they had done nothing.

The aim of terrorism is to effect change via violence or the threat of it - in Belgium, they have won.

Well done, Belgium, well done... /sarc

You don't live there alright? If the police tells everyone to evade certain areas we just do that. We are not all wearing thinfoil hats thinking the government is doing this for #s and giggles. But why the hell would we ignore their warnings? There's a reason they do this. It's for our safety, not for their amusement.. This is the first time ever this has happened in Belgium so there must be a legit reason for it.
Life goes on and people are not cowering in their houses, yet they are not going to tempt faith..

Anyway, according to a source (I got trough someone from my work who is married to a high ranking cop) the reason of the lvl 4 threat-level is because they are looking for 2 people who work as technicians for the subways. These guys know the entire network and are considered Jihadi's. They also found a chemical lab in Molenbeek linked to them. So they fear they want to conduct a chemical attack in the subways, that's why the subways have been closed since friday.

I support Belgium decision to go for lvl4. Better cautious than dead.

I'm living in the suburbs of Brussels.

This weekend has been very, very surreal. Military forces in the streets, almost no people on the streets, shopping malls, bars, restaurants all closed, no metro. And then today, on top of all that, schools are kept closed too.
I keep telling myself that there must be a valid reason for all of this, but the lack of transparancy (which i understand to a point) is getting on my nerves. Let's hope that it will not last too long

a reply to: Uberus

i thought the chemical lab dismantling was an unconfirmed rumour, and it was not true? If that's the case, then I understand why the government has shut down the metro for 3 days in a row

a local newspaper now reports that at least 4 high ranking Daesh-members have entered the country imposing as a refugee the past couple of months. Among them a well-known Palestinian bomb-maker who has been tied to many terrorist bombings...

link in dutch

What I don't get is, how long do the authorities want to keep this up, locking down an entire city?
Potential attacks will only be postponed or worse, move to another city because security is prepped up in Brussels.
Interesting to see how Martial Law is unfolding now in European cities and regions.

a reply to: Tyrion79

i've been thinking the same. Belgium is a small country, it takes a 30 minute drive max from our nations capital to get to other major cities, like Antwerp, Leuven, Gent or Liege. The highest threat level has only been issued for the capital, and yet a 10 minutes drive takes you to suburbia, where security levels are lower...

a reply to: whismermill
Exactly.
I'm waiting for this madness to come to Holland as well, we haven't gotten a terrorist attack yet here and I hope there never will be, but there's already alot of talk about increasing security budgets and more surveillance by Dutch politicians.
Western Europe is so densely populated, that it doesn't make any sense to lock down a specific area, while others are not.

originally posted by: whismermill
a reply to: Tyrion79

i've been thinking the same. Belgium is a small country, it takes a 30 minute drive max from our nations capital to get to other major cities, like Antwerp, Leuven, Gent or Liege. The highest threat level has only been issued for the capital, and yet a 10 minutes drive takes you to suburbia, where security levels are lower...

Ain't that the truth, that's what makes this whole thing FUBAR. I mean by the time the cops arrive they could be in Antwerp or Ghent. And finding 2 persons in a major city is like finding a haystack in a haystack.

It's pretty interesting, all those ranting about how this is "giving in" and people should just ignore the threat... you would be exactly the same if this was happening to you and your family.

Don't be puffing up with testosterone pretending you're some kind of Hollywood hero. This is real life, affecting real people, with families, with kids to protect.

Did anyone see the response in Paris right after this? People were out on the streets being "defiant", but a simple car backfiring or firecracker being set off sent thousands of people running and screaming.

You can pretend all you like, your survival instinct is more powerful than your principles. Fear is created as a natural response to threats and no amount of "just suck it up" is going to change that.

Like it or not, they have won a temporary victory here. Accept it, deal with it, then work to prevent it from happening again.

People are temporarily being held hostage in this situation, and the only people to blame are the psychopaths - and perhaps the agencies we pay to keep us safe failing in their duties.

People are making a choice for themselves based on what they know, and no one should be criticized for that.

originally posted by: Tyrion79
Western Europe is so densely populated, that it doesn't make any sense to lock down a specific area, while others are not.

This is only a temporary measure, and I think they are making the right choices based on the intelligence they have.
Clearly, they know more than we know, and they have stopped several other attacks in just a week.
Remember, the raid a few nights ago resulted in the death of that little rat-faced psycho, his cousin and someone with a suicide belt. That suggests they were in the final stages of going out to attack more people - and likely those meeting in defiance to mourn the dead.

What we absolutely need to do is abandon the Schengen area or at least ensure security on the borders of it is secured. In my opinion, we jumped the gun on this and shouldn't have implemented it until we had federal level security around the external border of this zone.

Right now, we need to close down the Schengen area, capture all those withing it wanting to do us harm, then review the security measures to get into this zone. The notion that someone could get into this zone on a false passport, or just an unknown one, is ridiculous.

a reply to: Rocker2013
I personally am not saying to ignore any threats, however it doesn't make sense, why certain areas are in lockdown, while others aren't, seeing how all major cities or public places could potentially be attacked by terrorists.
I think by doing just that, is a way of authorities to let the public know, that they're on top of things, which only serves to increase the general feeling of safety, instead of actually improving safety.

a reply to: Tyrion79

unless the target is specifically tied to Brussels. Like the metro. If what Uberus has posted is correct, the specific lockdown of the capital, and only the capital, makes sense.

this is Belgium too, btw, and that's why I love my country:

In the middle of the tense situation, the country’s police force asked its citizens on Twitter to not post any details about police activity they are witnessing. They used the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown.
Belgians for the most part are respecting the police’s wishes — but they are doing something else as well.
They are responding to the situation with humor, by posting cute cat pictures with the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown.

link

there's a reason why surrealism was invented here

a reply to: Rocker2013
I would like to respond on the Schengen issue.
This allows free travel of citizins of countries that our part of this treaty and not refugees or anyone outside of the treaty, so I don't think it's a liable security issue to begin with.
If we abandon the Schengen treaty, it would only target our own freedom as citizins of the EU, particularly ones inside of the Schengen treaty and it wouldn't solve anything on account of terrorist threats.