BRUSSELS — Brussels is grappling with a massive outbreak of violence after drug-fueled turf wars rocked the city this week, sparking concerns for public safety.
One local lawmaker even compared the dramatic escalation, which has been inflamed by narcotics trafficking and included AK-47s being fired in busy public places, to an episode of iconic American TV drama The Wire.
Two masked men shot Kalashnikov-style weapons outside the Clemenceau metro station in the west of the city early Wednesday morning, before a second shooting in the Saint-Josse region near the European Quarter in the early hours of Thursday morning was followed by more overnight gunfire at Clemenceau.
In each of three incidents, the perpetrators initially managed to escape, the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday. The first Clemenceau shooting sparked an unsuccessful, hours-long manhunt in the dark metro tunnels deep beneath the city. One suspect in that Clemenceau shooting was eventually arrested later Thursday.
Three people were injured in the shootings, jolting city politicians into action.
Brussels Mayor Philippe Close convened an urgent meeting Thursday afternoon with the mayors of the city’s different municipalities to discuss the security concerns and coordinate with the Brussels’ Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“Of course it’s an emergency,” Jean Spinette, mayor of Brussels’ Saint-Gilles municipality, told POLITICO. “But it has been an emergency since I became mayor two years ago.”
‘Reprisals’
Crime triggered by the trade in illegal drugs has long been a problem in Belgium, due to the vast quantities of cocaine and other illicit narcotics arriving through the mammoth port of Antwerp in the country’s north.
Brussels’ Public Prosecutor Julien Moinil on Belgian radio Thursday morning linked the attacks to drug trafficking, describing the shooters’ actions as “reprisals to win back certain territories.”
The shootings took place in the days after the ascension to power of Belgium’s new national government, which included in its coalition agreement a “zero-tolerance” policy for drugs in and near stations, and a merger of Brussels’ six police zones into a single department.
“In recent years, it has again become clear that the security policy in Brussels is too fragmented. That’s causing criminal phenomena and nuisances to not be dealt with in the most efficient way possible,” the deal read.
While the country finally has a government, Brussels is also struggling with the lack of a regional administration, which has been stuck in negotiating limbo since elections in June 2024. “This can no longer continue,” fumed Christophe de Beukelaer, group leader of the center-right Les Engagés party in Brussels.
“For more than eight months, some political parties have refused to join the government, continuing to ignore the urgency of the situation. This deadlock is unacceptable and jeopardizes the safety of the people of Brussels,” he said in an apparent swipe at the francophone socialist PS party, which has vetoed joining a government that includes the Flemish Nationalist N-VA party.
Jérémie Tojerow, a municipal councillor in leafy Uccle from the PS party, told POLITICO that the recent shootings in Brussels reminded him of the Baltimore-set series The Wire, which chronicles America’s long-running war on narcotics from the perspective of police, gangsters, drug users and affected civilians.
“The macho postures of many politicians regarding the real issues and resources needed to dismantle such networks made me think of this series: investigators, technical means, following the dirty money, and so on,” Tojerow said, pointing to the wiretaps and deep investigative police work it took to try smash drug gangs in the TV show.
‘The situation is critical’
For the city’s residents, the gang issues are beginning to feel way too close to home. Against the backdrop of rising violence, 40 neighborhood committees wrote an open letter to authorities Thursday, demanding immediate and concrete measures “to restore order and respect in Brussels.”
“Security is one of the main concerns for the people living in Brussels,” said Spinette, the Saint-Gilles mayor.
“We have people in the mafia who make a lot of money by using people in poverty. We have big problems with insecurity and public order,” he added, pointing to Antwerp as the source of much of the violence.
“The real problem is related to the drug traffic that enters Belgium through the port of the city of Antwerp. We have to work together with the municipality and police of Antwerp as well as to obtain some reinforcement from the federal police to counter this issue,” he said.
The new government has promised that it’s cognizant of the issues — and is working flat out to tackle them.
Belgium’s new Interior Minister Bernard Quintin, from the liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR) in the five-party government, told Belgian radio Thursday that he wants to reduce administrative tasks for police to let them focus on their primary mission of keeping the city safe, while cutting off the drug supply at source.
“I want to reassure all the people of Brussels and the Belgians, we are not going to reduce the resources of the police. It is not Antwerp against Brussels, but we must tackle the gateway for drugs,” Quintin said.
Some politicians believe the moment for change is finally here.
“The security in our stations is a scandal, so I am sure they want to change, and I am ready to work with them on that,” Spinette said.
“The situation is critical. Brussels’ attractiveness internationally, both as a tourist destination and an economic hub, is at stake,” warned de Beukelaer.
The post Like an episode of The Wire: Brussels’ gang wars spiral out of control appeared first on Politico.
