There were two more shootings in Brussels last night. Around midnight, the police found a man on the street in the borough of Molenbeek. He had been hit by a bullet in his lower leg. Around 3 am, one person was injured in a shooting in the borough of Sint-Gilles. Jurgen De Landsheer, head of the Brussels South police zone, believes the situation is deteriorating once again. “We need to get the people off the streets who are being exploited by gangs and who are shooting at buildings or people for a few hundred euros.”
In the two new incidents in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek and Sint-Gillis last night, one person was injured in each case. The victims were taken to hospital.
Following the shooting in Sint-Gillis, two suspects were arrested in the neighbourhood. The police cannot yet say whether this is drug-related violence. “The investigation is in full swing. No further details can be provided at this stage,” they said.
There were also several shootings in Brussels last weekend. In Anderlecht, shots were fired at a police station on multiple occasions. There were also two shooting incidents in Sint-Gillis.
‘It was actually a relatively quiet summer,’ says Jurgen De Landsheer. He works in the Brussels South Police Zone, which also includes Anderlecht and Sint-Gillis. "We maintained a fair amount of control over the neighbourhoods, partly because the police continued to apply pressure, and partly through prevention. Now, however, there seems to be a return of the instability."
“It may sound strange to say this is a positive thing, but the renewed violence does show that we are putting pressure on these gangs and disrupting their activities,” says De Landsheer.
Jean Spinette, Mayor of Sint-Gillis, linked last weekend’s shootings to violence between drug gangs. Sooner or later, innocent people will be killed, he said.
Like Spinette, Chief Constable De Landsheer is convinced that last weekend’s shootings are linked to violence between drug gangs. We must continue to focus on law enforcement and prevention, he says.
“I know I’m repeating myself, but on the one hand we must remove drugs and violence from our streets, whilst on the other hand something must take their place,” says De Landsheer. “We must take a positive approach, and that positive narrative is shaped by the community itself.”
The police chief points out that drug gangs target vulnerable people who are easily persuaded to get involved. “I’m talking, for example, about minors and people living here illegally, who hang around on the streets with nothing to do. They are, in effect, being used by the drug gangs as cheap labour.”
“First and foremost, we must focus on robust enforcement, but we must also get the people off the streets who are being exploited by the gangs and who, for a few hundred euros, shoot at or intimidate buildings or people. It is not the major gang leaders who do this.”
“These guys need a swift decision on their status in Belgium so we can get them off the streets, either by integrating them successfully or by sending them back to their country of origin.”
‘Not just a story about the police and the justice system’
This is not only a story about the police and the justice system, emphasises De Landsheer. ‘As a society, we are really going to have to make choices and decide where we want to go with certain issues.’
‘These are issues that must be tackled collectively. The solutions also lie within the neighbourhoods themselves. They must work together with the government, the police, the justice system and other services to give these young people a future. So that they do not feel the need to turn to the world of drugs for easy money.’
De Landsheer describes the shooting at the police station in Anderlecht as a line that has been crossed. “A police station must be a safe place for everyone – for members of the public who come to the station, but also for our own officers.”
De Landsheer realises that there is “no magic solution”. “I don’t think it will stop just like that; we’re seeing the same thing in other cities. But we’re not going to abandon the terrain; we’re going to keep going and try to resolve this together with other services.”