State of Emergency Declared in Brussels Over Wave of Drug Wars

Belgium’s minister of the interior has introduced a state of emergency of nationwide scale in Brussels.

As local media report, in recent weeks the capital of the EU has been suffering from a wave of criminal violence: shootouts between narcotics-trafficking gangs do not cease, and the authorities are unable to suppress them.

The state of emergency presupposes the transfer to Brussels of additional police contingents and the introduction of army units. In the last four days alone, fierce shootouts between bandits flared up six times in the suburbs of Brussels.

In all, since the beginning of 2026, 65 such incidents have been recorded. As the head of the Belgian Interior Ministry stated, a concentration of all the resources of the federal government is necessary to solve the problem: otherwise the capital of the EU will finally sink into criminal chaos and anarchy.