The Minister of Defense of Belgium, Theo Francken, reported this Friday the deployment, for the first time, of a joint operation of military and police forces in Brussels, in response to the increase in security problems and violence linked to drug trafficking affecting the capital.
"Today the Ministry of Defense supports for the first time a large integrated police action in Brussels. Six police zones, the Federal Police, and our military are acting together against disturbances, crime, and drug trafficking," Francken pointed out in a message on social media.
The Defense official justified the involvement of the Armed Forces in this operation due to the growing feeling of insecurity in various parts of the city and emphasized that institutions must "regain control" of the streets and stations.
"We cannot continue leaving our streets and stations in the hands of traffickers and drug criminals. We have turned a blind eye for too long to the specific security problems in Brussels," he concluded.
The government's measure is adopted in a context of a resurgence of violence in the Brussels region, where in the last week six shootings have been recorded in the neighborhoods of Anderlecht, Saint-Gilles, and Molenbeek. With these incidents, the total number of shootings so far this year amounts to 65, the same figure recorded in the entire previous year.