Two people killed in Brussels on the sidelines of Belgium-Sweden, the match stopped

A little more than two hours before the Belgium-Sweden kick-off, without a direct link with the qualifying match for Euro 2024 having yet been proven, shots were fired in the capital Belgian near Place Sainctelette, Boulevard d’Ypres and Boulevard du Neuvième de Ligne, according to several corroborating Belgian media. The match was stopped at half-time. The Swedes reportedly requested that the meeting not resume, which was accepted by the Belgians. The stadium announcer also asked everyone present in the enclosure not to leave it.

According to a police source, the suspect was still not arrested at half-time of the match, even though the first period had passed without any visible consequences. The police services are favoring the terrorist trail, without having yet been able to arrest the perpetrator. In a video posted on social networks, the alleged shooter claims to have killed two Swedes, which the media in the Nordic country, citing supporters wearing selection jerseys, confirm. Unlike the Belgian police.

Research operations are continuing, with analysis of the threat in association with OCAM, the Belgian anti-terrorist services. Quoted by the daily Le Soir, Antoine Iseux, spokesperson for the national crisis center, affirmed at 9 p.m. that the institution had been directly informed by the Brussels-Ixelles police zone. “We are monitoring the situation,” he said. For the moment, the case is still being followed by the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. »

Strengthening the system around the stadium

In images taken by a local resident, we can see a man with a fluorescent orange jacket and a white helmet, a weapon in his hand. Getting off a scooter, he allegedly fired several times in the street. Several people took refuge in the entrance hall of a building and the assailant pursued them to fire again in this hall, in particular at a person on the ground. Several videos of the alleged suspect, still on social networks, refer to the Islamic State.

Five minutes before the Belgium-Sweden kick-off, the president of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation left the official stand, followed by the president of the Belgian Federation. Officials invited fellow Belgian journalists not to leave the stadium, around which a reinforcement of the police force would be underway.