Spanish expats describe 'Brussels Lockdown' during top-secret terror raids
Spanish expats describe 'Brussels Lockdown' during top-secret terror raids
SPANIARDS living in the Belgian capital have broken their night-long silence imposed by the 'Brussels Lockdown' and told reporters what it felt like living under military siege in a western European city.
The world's media was told just before operations started at 19.00hrs last night (Sunday) not to report on any activity in Belgium until otherwise advised, since a metropolitan-wide swoop on terror suspects had been meticulously planned by Intelligence and security services.
One word out of place could mean the potential killers might have got wind of the operation and either fled or launched an attack similar to those in Paris just over a week ago.
Spanish people living in Brussels have just revealed that they were ordered to stay indoors with the lights off, not to give details of their location or activities on any social networks, and even to stay away from the windows.
Armed Forces filled the streets of the capital and the locations and positions of security services were kept top-secret.
Major TV and radio channels stopped broadcasting and no news programmes were aired last night.
In fact, Brussels turned into a ghost town and was completely cut off from the world.
Raids were carried out on 19 properties in the districts of Molenbeek – where a number of terror suspects were arrested last Saturday – Jette, Schaerbeek, Anderlecht, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Forest, and Charleroi.
A total of 16 suspects have been arrested, one of whom was injured when police opened fire after the person in question rammed a patrol car and attempted to drive off.
No explosives have been seized in the Brussels raids, confirms Belgian prime minister Charles Michel.
None of the arrested parties is the wanted terror suspect Salah Abdesalam, who is believed to have changed his name and appearance.
His brother Mohammed was arrested a week ago on Saturday, but was able to prove he had not been in Paris and had had nothing to do with the attacks.
Mohammed, a council worker in Brussels for the last 10 years, is pleading with his estranged brother to give himself up, saying he would 'rather see him in jail than in a cemetery'.
“Salah and Ibrahim [who blew himself up in Paris] do not represent the family – we are distraught and really feel for the victims,” Mohammed said.
He added that he had had 'arguments' with his mother, who refused to believe Salah had been in Syria and insisted he had gone skiing.
The family had not noticed Salah and Ibrahim becoming 'indoctrinated' – only that they started 'living more cleanly', or not drinking and smoking, and 'praying more often', but that this in itself is a far cry from 'radicalisation'.
