Louis Hauseux - Update From Belgium
Hey Hansi,
So far so good as they say. But, it has been a hell of a weekend! But what media in Canada maybe did not say is that it all started last wednesday. As you know, I am now studying full time in Brussels and my University is bang in the historic center... So we were the first concerned (classes are canceled today and I stayed at home).
But last thursday, I was out with friends at a party and they evacuated the neigborhood. They shut down the club I was in with metal fences so we were stuck in and could only go out through a back door surrounded by security officers.
The city of Brussels is crazy, there are military all over the places, metros are shut down, some train station as well, some stores, malls,... it really feels like we're at war.
BUT far from the idea of being imprudent, we keep on living, greeting refugees from Syria with open arms (now that we tasted a glimpse of they're going through),... Someone said over the radio that "DAESH fears our unity more than our bombs" and I believe this is true and that is the word that need to be spread. Also, never call them ISIS anymore: there are not a state and even less Islamic representant.
The whole night there have been operations in Brussels, 19 persons got arrested (yet the main suspect Salah Abdeslam is no where to be found). It was quite funny though because police asked people and medias not to realte anything that was going on (not on facebook, twitter,...) to keep as much as possible the secret of the operations being conducted.
This is how Belgium reacted on social medias:
I have to say that I feel proud to see how courageous are Belgians in those situations and more than that, give the best counter-attack you can on DAESH - not give a sh-t.
So here is the situation. I am waiting on an email from my University to know if classes are canceled tomorrow. Hopefully not, and I ll go back up in Brussels either tonight or tomorrow morning. Terror level should not be going down any time soon but nothing is for sure!
Thank you so much for checking on me!
Cheers and love,
Louis Hauseux