Threat level: up to 520 soldiers deployed.

On Monday 16 November 2015, the CUTA (Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis) raised the terror threat level to level 3, i.e. serious, for the entire territory of Belgium (threat is possible and likely). This threat level specifically applies to areas where a lot of people gather.

The National Security Council took note of this increased level, which means more security forces are deployed.

Following the decision of the Crisis Centre, the police decided to request temporary and focused extra support from the Belgian Army to guard certain locations.

In the course of the day, the Army will deploy extra soldiers. The soldiers will primarily be deployed in the large cities. 

Today, up to 300 extra soldiers will be deployed, on top of the 220 soldiers already deployed. In total, 520 soldiers will therefore be deployed. In the coming days, the police and the crisis centre will continuously monitor the situation and the capacity required. The extra locations where soldiers provide support are determined by the police.

Using soldiers allows the police to focus on its policing duties as much as possible, as part of the threat level 3.

The use of soldiers is governed by the same protocol agreement – and therefore the same conditions – of March 2015, which allowed for soldiers to be used as a temporary support measure for the police force, for the static guarding of sensitive locations, buildings or perimeters.

 Additional security measures are possible, following an analysis of specific events or locations.