The military has started patrolling the streets of Brussels due to increased shootings in the capital linked to drug gang wars.
„Joint military and police patrols will first be deployed in the center of Brussels, which is most affected by drug trafficking,“ said a statement by the country's Minister of Security and Interior, Bernard Quentin.
He received the full support of Defense Minister Theo Franken. „Our capital Brussels is a disaster in terms of security.“ "We must regain control of the city," he wrote in X.
The Interior Ministry also promised to allocate 20 million euros to install new video cameras in the most problematic areas of the city, where drug and arms trafficking flourishes.
The French-speaking Socialists, who are political opponents of both the French-speaking liberal Quentin and the Flemish nationalist Francken, expressed the opinion that sending the army to the streets of the capital would not produce results and accused the ministers of "trying to imitate" US President Donald Trump.
The crime situation in Brussels has deteriorated sharply in the past two years, with shootings in the city occurring several times a week, and a sharp increase in the number of cases of theft and violence on the streets of the capital. At the same time, the situation is very different in the rich and poor areas of the city. The most dangerous areas in Brussels are considered to be the center (with the exception of... a few main tourist streets), the municipalities of Molenbeek (northwest), Anderlecht (west), the shopping streets along the Brussels Canal and the areas around the capital's North and South railway stations.
Military patrols first appeared on the streets of Brussels after the terrorist attacks at the Brussels airport and metro in 2016, carried out by the same militant group, affiliated with the terrorist organization “Islamic State“, that carried out the terrorist attacks in Paris in the fall of 2015. It was based in Molenbeek. The military patrols lasted for more than a year.