Schools and public transportation are returning to normal operation in Brussels after closing due to security concerns. The Brussels region remains under Belgium’s highest terror threat warning level.
A sense of normalcy returned to the Belgian capital on Wednesday as schools resumed classes and public transportation services in Brussels gradually began normal operation. Around half of the city’s metro lines were operating normally on Wednesday.
However, the threat level for Brussels will remain at the maximum level of four until November 30, while the rest of the country is on “severe” alert at level three, Deutsche Welle reported.
In Brussels, this means an increased presence of police and armed soldiers will remain in place and public events will still be limited.
The threat level for the surrounding region was raised to its highest level on November 21 by the country’s Coordination Unit for Threat Assessment in response to a “serious and imminent” threat of a Paris-style attack.
Over the weekend, metro closures and a plea from the government that the public avoid large crowds of people led to mostly empty streets in the normally bustling European metropolis. The Brussels lockdown continued through Monday and Tuesday.
Since the threat level in Brussels was raised, authorities in Belgium have made 21 arrests in a number of raids. However, an international manhunt is still on for one of the suspected participants in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, whose alleged presence in Belgium was one of the triggers for the heightened state of security.
