Police have arrested two suspects in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old in Antwerp on Wednesday. A third suspect is still being tracked down.
Both suspects hail from the East Flemish town of Aalst. Local police have called up reinforcements as there are fears the murder is linked to gang rivalry and reprisals may now follow.
The victim was active in an Antwerp drill rap gang. Detectives believe the killing may be a settling of accounts between rival gangs.
Drill rap is a sub-genre of the gangster rap music style that originated in Chicago at the end of the noughties. Drill rap arrived in Belgium via the UK and the Netherlands. Both music and videos are high violent. Drill is slang for a killing or inflicting serious injury. In some songs rival gangs are insulted and death threats are issued.
Violence also spills into the drill rappers’ real life and can lead to physical and armed confrontations. Aalst Mayor Christophe D’Haese says his city is familiar with the phenomenon: “The gangs used on concentrate on one single city, but now the violence involves gangs from different gangs”.
The Aalst city authorities are now trying to map out the challenge as clearly as possible using youth and street workers and the police. Mayor D’Haese believes some 30 youngsters may be involved in the city but the composition of the gangs varies.
Police now fear reprisals and numbers have been beefed up in affected neighbourhoods. Police are staging extra surveillance in hotspots and local prosecutors are co-operating with colleagues in Antwerp.
“We are trying not to lose contact with these youngsters” says D’Haese. “We possess an extensive network, but clearly the safety net didn’t work.