Brussels put on highest terrorist attack alert, shuts down its Metro services
The terror threat level in Belgium has been raised to four for the Brussels Region. That is the highest level and indicates that the threat of an attack is highly likely. A week after the Paris attacks carried out by Islamic State militants, of whom one suspect from Brussels is at large and said by authorities to be highly dangerous, the city was placed on the top level “four” in the government’s threat scale after a meeting of top ministers, police and security services.
People are being warned to avoid crowded areas and public transport while authorities are being urged to consider the cancellation of major events. “The advice for the population is to avoid places where a lot of people come together like shopping centres, concerts, events or public transport stations wherever possible,” a spokesman for the government’s crisis centre said.
A statement on the center’s website said it had recommended closing the underground rail network until Sunday and the municipal transport authority tweeted that stations on the four main metro lines were closed “by order of the police.”
The crisis center website said it was calling on local authorities to cancel large events, urge people to avoid crowds, postpone soccer matches, close the Brussels metro for the weekend and stepping up the military and police presence.
