Politico
Belgium’s Security and Home Affairs Minister Bernard Quintin wants to put soldiers on Brussels’ streets to fight escalating drug violence, a plan that is nearing realization.
“The army has to defend the integrity of the territory. Usually, soldiers do this at our borders or far beyond them. But the war against drug crime also falls under the protection of our territory,” Quintin told De Standaard in an interview published Saturday.
The Belgian capital has been plagued by a spate of drug-related shootings. Last month, Brussels prosecutor Julien Moinil decried the escalating violence, counting 57 shootings this year, 20 of which happened over the summer.
The prosecutor — under police protection following threats from traffickers — had previously asked for €10 million to improve safety in Brussels, but said that authorities weren’t giving him the resources he needs. He warned that innocent citizens risk being pulled into the spiraling violence: “Anyone in Brussels could be hit by a stray bullet.”
In the run-up to budget negotiations, Belgium’s Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden is asking for an additional €1 billion for her department.
Quintin, a Brussels local, has branded the security situation of his hometown “catastrophic,” slamming traffickers’ brazen attitude in the city in an interview with POLITICO in May.
“I’m exaggerating, of course, but currently we’re almost in a situation where a guy comes in, unfolds his little chair, and sets up his little table and his parasol,” he said then.
Under the new plan, Quintin told De Standaard, soldiers would operate in mixed teams, patrolling together with police. Their operations would be focused around metro stations and certain districts, such as Peterbos in the Anderlecht commune in the southwest of Brussels.
The political decision to deploy soldiers has already been taken, but the details still have to be ironed out, Quintin said. He is pushing for implementation “as soon as possible.”
More at
https://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-ministers-want-to-use-army-to-fight-brussels-drug-violence/
