The goal is to make road safety a priority, and zone 30 is at the center of the system. « We must appease the city, improve the well-being of residents, secure traffic, reduce noise (by 50%), reduce pollution, » justifies the minister.

From January 1st, 2021, the 30 km/hour will become the rule on all the territory of the Region, with the exception of major structuring axes where the 50 km/h will apply (even 70 km/h in some sections). « In Brussels, the driver will know that, unless otherwise stated, he can not exceed 30 km/h. It is the opposite of what is happening today where the 30 is the exception.

This zone 30 will be more controlled and motorists who do not respect it will also be more sanctioned. To do this, new radars will be added to the existing fleet and the capacity to process fines will increase from 200,000 to 350,000 per year. The minister also plans to make improvements to roads to slow down.

The 30 « black spots », areas of concentration of accidents on the territory of the Region, will all be resolved under this legislature, promises Ms. Van den Brandt.

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The 23-year-old woman and her two children have been in the Kurdish camp of Al-Roj since February 2018 and want to return to Belgium. « According to the court, the children have the subjective right to protection by the Belgian state — mother and children have the right to be protected against inhuman and degrading treatment and they have the right to consular protection from the Belgian state,” Cohen said.

Recently, also the US ambassador in Brussels, Ronald Gidwitz, expressed himself on the topic. The diplomat stated that Belgium « must repatriate » its 50 terror fighters from Syria, for »security reasons ».

On the other hand, Sophie Wilmès announced that Belgium does not intend to repatriate the Belgian jihadists, freed from Kurdish prisons following the Turkish offensive in Syria. The MP Georges Dallemagne thinks this is a mistake. « The United States is right, we must repatriate the jihadists […] I think the ambassador is right. The question of repatriation is not humanitarian, it is a question of security », said to LN24.

« The Prime Minister repeats what has always been said, that the Belgian jihadists must be judged as close to the place where they committed their crimes, but we know that it is not possible. I spoke with Kurds, who told me ‘we have already fought on the ground, captured, detained your nationals. We do not intend to keep them for years, why should this threat affect our population? ».

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« There is no staff reserve and the law is too rigid to move people from one pillar to another, » said the Federal Police Council President Willy Bruggeman. »Whenever a new phenomenon appears, the police are struggling to survive. Not to mention the terrorist attacks, which are very specific and require all possible efforts.  »

The MP Tim Vandenput (Open Vld) calls in De Tijd to invest another 500 to 900 million euros in police, justice, fire and defense. « We really need to invest more in our basic security. »

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As Van Rampelbergh stated: “The march has been banned for safety reasons.” In fact, a few days before the police of Brussels Capital and Ixelles area advised against the demonstration.

The main claim of the manifestation was the end of the cordon-sanitaire, the inter-party agreement between N-Va, CD&V, and Open Vld to refuse to collaborate with the far-right party Vlaams Belang (VB). According to the Dutch media,  the implication of the Bloed, Bodem-Eer en Trouw group, the Flemish nationalist faction of the international neo-Nazi group Blood & Honour, was suspected.

However, on Sunday the police will still be alert since the arrival of the protesters is not excluded. In fact, notwithstanding the mayor’s veto, after the original one was removed, a new event page on Facebook was created, and it already counts hundreds of people interested in participating.

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After the terrorist attacks of March 2016, the military mobilized up to 1,800 of its personnel.

The government has reported that based on the threat analysis of this month, the threat level is Level 2, out of 4.

After a proposal from Minister of Security, Pieter De Crem and Minister of Defense, Didier Reynder, the Council of Ministers has now decided to maintain the number of military personnel at 550 until October.

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Only an hour later, at 19:00 the shopping center Docks Brussels received a similar bomb threat. Therefore, Docks Brussels had to be evacuated as well.

A similar situation went down at the Westland Shopping center of Anderlecht. The building did not have to be evacuated as it was almost closing time. They did not allow more customers to walk in.

As police arrived at the scene, there is heightened security. Further detailed controls will be taking place tomorrow morning before opening times.

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Although OCAM (L’organe de coordination pour l’analyse de la menace, or “the coordination unit for threat analysis”) did not raise the terrorist threat level in Belgium following the attack, the police has nevertheless mobilised extra officers to ensure that mosques remain safe throughout the next few days.

In Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, police took the further step of setting up a special email address for leaders of the Muslim community to contact them if they feel threatened. A police presence will also be maintained around Molenbeek’s mosques and schools.

The attack in Christchurch claimed the lives of 50 people after a shooting in two separate mosques. Over thirty people were injured, with some remaining in a critical condition.

The suspected attacker, Australian 28 year old Brenton Tarrant, has been charged with murder by the New Zealand authorities.

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Several people have also been injured in the shooting, which took place at 10.45am local time near the 24 Oktoberplein junction.

The police reports that the gunman is still at large. The threat level has been temporarily raised to its maximum level across the city, with Dutch police claiming that the shooting “appears to have been a terrorist attack”.

Trains and most tram line services have been suspended, and schools have been requested to shut their doors. Mosques have also been closed across the city as a security precaution.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was “deeply concerned” by the shooting, and has consequently cancelled his weekly coalition talks.

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Vias Institute, which releases reports on road safety in Belgium, has pointed out improvements when it comes to the number of road fatalities. In a recent report, it indeed highlights a decrease of fatal road accidents in Belgium over the 9 first months of 2018:  – 4.6%.

Belgium might have reached the best number over the last ten years in 2018, after the 2017 report revealed an historical decrease of road fatalities last year.

During the three first quarters of 2018, 333 people lost their life on Belgian roads (before the victim goes to the hospital). A year before, this figure reached 349.

While we could be happy about those statistics, this is not the end of the story. The goal, both at the national and the EU level, has been to halve the road fatalities from 2010 to 2020. The Belgian authorities aim to reach the target of 420 deaths in 2020, while 620 people died last year, the Vias’ statistics pointed out.

This global picture also reveals different realities. The bike-users and motorcycle-users have faced more fatal accidents than they faced last year.

Good news, however, when it comes to the youth. The number of accidents involving a young driver (18-24 years-old) has decreased by 8% if you compare this 2018 report with the 2017 report.

It is also worth underlying the fact that the number of injured people has never been as low as it is now over the past ten years (35,725 during the three first quarters of 2018).

While that news is quite positive for Belgium, the trend should be accelerated if the Belgian authorities want to achieve their goals by 2020.

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Cyclists are however perceived to be somewhat reckless: running through red lights, sneaking through traffic or listening to music with headphones. Some of these behaviours are caused by lack of adequate infrastructure, but cycling with headphones on has always struck me as somewhat insane. Audible cues are a huge part of the input needed to cycle safely: even if you have the priority, if you have limited visibility then hearing a car coming would be the only way of avoiding it.

To fight this, Bike for Brussels has launched a campaign called Earworm to Go to sensitise cyclists. They have also prepared a Spotify playlist to get you inspired. You might also have seen some posters around town. In any case, the aim is to get cyclists thinking about how to cycle safely.

While it might seem obvious to some that cycling with headphones is not a good idea, it is common to walk and listen to music. From there to cycling and listening to music there is but a short distance, and it does not seem any more reckless than texting and driving which can be seen any day on Brussels’ roads. So, if you do cycle with headphones or know someone who does, this is a good way of engaging on this issue. And if you really cannot get a song out of your head to the point of despair, check out these tips to forget it.

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