Brussels terror alert based on fears of 'Paris-style attack'

[Squiggy]

Belgian PM Charles Michel says the decision to raise the terror alert level in Brussels to the highest level was taken fearing an attack "like the one that happened in Paris" last week.

The fear was that "several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack... perhaps even in several places", Mr Michel said.
Some of the attackers who killed 130 people in Paris lived in Brussels.

Leading suspect Salah Abdeslam is believed to have gone back to Belgium.
A huge manhunt is under way.

Read on:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34889144/

You know my position on this: Every ISIS member needs to die a painful and slow death and I hope their families are ashamed of them.

 

[fladdermasken]

Info piece from the press conference at 10:30 am. http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News/1.2502063

There is precise evidence for a potential attack similar to the Paris attacks: several perpetrators attacking multiple targets at the same time. Potential targets would be commercial centres, shopping streets, public transport, and in general places with a lot of people.

Measures taken:

• A reduction of the number of big events (in the Brussels region). This reduces the number of potential targets, and clears (police and military) capacity.
• More checks on public transport. No metro in Brussels, all 69 Brussels metro stations are closed. Buses and trams in Brussels are still driving (except underground trams/pre-metro). Train station Brussels-Schuman closed (as it's also a metro station). Rest of Belgium not affected: trains are driving, airports operate as usual. This is until Sunday afternoon.
• The capacity of police and army is increased. Both for Brussels but also to guard the rest of the country.
• There is a special phone number 1771 in case people have questions.

"Be prudent and vigilant, but don't panic."

Sunday afternoon, OCAD (Institution of Coordination for Threat Analysis) will do another evaluation.

More stuff:

• In the Bamako (Mali) attack, two Belgians were killed. Four were saved. Special thanks to the authorities of Mali and France.
• Despite the recommendation of OCAD to cancel all football matches in first and second division, the Football Association has decided not to cancel football matches.

 

[Roland]

Belgium warns of 'serious and imminent threat' to Brussels

Paris Suspect arrest in Belgium
Weapons Found but no Explosives.

Paris (CNN)

Belgium has placed Brussels at the highest terror alert level, citing a "serious and imminent threat that requires taking specific security measures as well as specific recommendations for the population."

The announcement by the Crisis Center of the Belgian Interior Ministry is advising the public to avoid places where large groups gather -- such as concerts, sporting events, airports and train stations -- and comply with security checks. The rest of the nation will maintain its current terror level.
If people take the terror alert seriously, Brussels will be "shut down tomorrow," CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruikshank said.
"It suggests they have something specific and credible at the intelligence front pointing them in the direction that there may be a terrorist plot in the works," he said. "It also suggests they don't have a handle on it, that they don't know where these plotters are or where they're coming from."
The increase in alert level for Brussels comes as authorities investigating last week's terror attacks in Paris conduct raids in Belgium as they work to identify and take down the network of terrorists behind the carnage.
Salah Abdeslam, 26, is the subject of an international search warrant. He was last seen driving toward the Belgian border when police stopped and questioned him a few hours after the attacks, not knowing that he was allegedly involved. His whereabouts are unknown.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/20/w...is-attacks0153AMVODtopVideo&linkId=18934168/?

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Am I the only one who thinks that people that get caught with too many unregistered weapons should be executed on the spot?
I mean; someone who hoards a lot of weapons DEFINITELY has good intentions, right?

Like here in germany when we arrested someone who was about to smuggle weapons to Paris... how long until this guy is released? 10 years? 5 years?


I'm not one of those guys that scream "Death sentence! Death sentence!" for any crimes, but terrorism or supporting terrorism should have a certain ... danger involved.

 

[Ash]

Am I the only one who thinks that people that get caught with too many unregistered weapons should be executed on the spot?

Yes.

I mean; someone who hoards a lot of weapons DEFINITELY has good intentions, right?

You mean, like a collector?

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Yes.

You mean, like a collector?

I think you can instantly tell a collector and a smuggler apart from their... antics.

Collectors will register their weapons and know their sources. They will probably also not have a significant amount of ammo. Plus: why would a collector collect a sizable amount of the most common (and thus least interesting) firearm in the world, the kalashnikov?

 

[Celaquil]

You assumed that he were to read deeper into what you implied than what you actually
wrote. This is often where people start stepping in the wrong direction during debates:

When someone starts being unspecific about their arguments, and someone counter-
arguments the actual argument instead of what the debater actually meant. People
really should stop assuming so much...

Also, if you want to execute someone for having made a bad decision in life,
I'd say you're no better than those you claim to fight against. Live a life treating
others the way you want to be treated yourself: Even a smuggler can be dissuaded
from his trade, and do good in life, if given proper follow-up during incarceration.

Like here in germany when we arrested someone who was about to smuggle weapons to Paris... how long until this guy is released? 10 years? 5 years?

This is another problem with our mentality toward prisons, somehow we see it as a
"vengeance" thing, a sort of punishment that is "befitting" a person's bad actions.
And sure, some people may deserve punishment, but as you say yourself: Doesn't
it just postpone the next criminal act? In most cases, the answer is yes, but if we
started viewing incarceration more as a "rehabilitation" rather than "vengeance",
or even "justice", and give people a realistic chance after they've served their
time, then maybe we could actually lower the crime-rate in the world.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

This is another problem with our mentality toward prisons, somehow we see it as a
"vengeance" thing, a sort of punishment that is "befitting" a person's bad actions.
And sure, some people may deserve punishment, but as you say yourself: Doesn't
it just postpone the next criminal act? In most cases, the answer is yes, but if we
started viewing incarceration more as a "rehabilitation" rather than "vengeance",
or even "justice", and give people a realistic chance after they've served their
time, then maybe we could actually lower the crime-rate in the world.

I absolutely see where you are coming from and I totally share your view. As I said, I'm against death sentence in general; but let's look at the facts here:
- most terrorists don't care for their lifes anyway. I guess that's a requirement for the job...
- do you think someone who smuggles weapons for a living, knowing very well what they are used for (and thus, willfully accepts the consequences) can be rehabilitated? This is not like someone who kills a neighbour on impulse... after all, there is a reason why we destinguish between planned murder and impulse murder. You won't just become an arms smuggler out of nowhere... it probably requires years of "criminal dedication" to get there. In a way, smugglers are the "pro level" criminals while terrorists are the srubs.
- in a way, weapon smugglers are worse than the terrorists themselves; they are the "enablers". They are those that won't put their lives on the line. They are those that probably don't even care what the conflict is about. In a way, they are even colder blooded than terrorists: while there is a certain amount of "ideology" involved in religious terrorism, smugglers do it for nothing but their own profit. They quite literally trade with death.

And I honestly see a certain benefit in giving smugglers the choice between:
1) tell us about your "friends"
2) wake up without a head
instead of:
1) tell us abour your "friends"
2) get 10 years in jail. 5 if you're being nice.