Brussels cancels New Year’s Eve fireworks due to threat

Soldiers and police officers in Brussels held an orgy while the city was in lockdown over fears of a Paris-style attack by Islamist extremists, according to Belgian media reports.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the decision had been taken “given information we have received”.

“Unfortunately we have been forced to cancel the fireworks and all that was planned for tomorrow (Thursday) evening and that would have brought a lot of people together in the centre of Brussels, following a risk analysis by the crisis centre”, mayor Yvan Mayeur told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.

It said the case was unrelated to the brazen and bloody extremist actions in Paris a month and a half ago but that the investigation, which is still ongoing, has revealed a “threat of serious attacks that would target several emblematic places in Brussels and be committed during the end-of-year holidays”.

The French capital remains on high alert since the November 13 shootings and suicide bombings by Islamic State militants which killed 130 people.

The two are reported to belong to a motorbike club called the Kamikaze Riders.

Abdelouafi Eloussaki, a founding member of the Kamikaze Riders who died in a motorcycle crash in May 2013, had two younger brothers who were members of the radical group Sharia4Belgium. Nine other people have been arrested in Belgium in investigations linked to the Paris attacks, which were claimed by Islamic State. They were detained during police raids carried out in Brussels and in the Liege region since last weekend.

Suicide vests and explosives were found during police raids. The announcement came on Wednesday, just one day before the two members of a motorcycle gang who were arrested for plotting an attack in Brussels were scheduled to appear in court.

About 11,000 soldiers, police and emergency workers will be deployed – 2,000 more than previous year – during subdued celebrations, the official city web site said, while there would be restrictions on the sale of alcohol. The attack killed more than 100 people and was Turkey’s deadliest.

Fireworks are not a traditional part of the celebrations, but they were part of a New Year frenzy a year ago on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, the capital’s most famous thoroughfare.